When Love Comes Knocking
by SVUlover13
Summary: Set after season 15, but Lewis and Noah didn't happen. It was just another year. Elliot comes back into Olivia's life. Things quickly get back to the way they were before friendship wise. The question is will things go to places they never have before? And if they do will it stay happy? Rated M for later chapters
1. The Knock

It had been 3 years, 3 long, agonizing, torturous years. 3 years since that fateful day in the precinct. She didn't know her life would change that dramatically.

She figured he would take some time off, regroup, and come back. She didn't know he would never come back. She would have never guessed that she wouldn't see or talk to him again. Not so much as an 'I'm sorry', or 'goodbye', he was just gone.

Cragen was the one who had to tell her he wasn't coming back. When she heard those words she tried to keep herself together, but that lasted about all of three minutes. She found an empty interrogation room and cried. Olivia wasn't one to let her emotions out, especially in a place where someone could find her. This had really shaken up her world.

Cragen made her pack up _his_ desk. She guessed Cragen probably thought it was some sort of closure, but it was pure torture. She had so much trouble holding together for a while. Things were so hard for her to handle, cases were not the same. She would bury herself in cases even more than she used to, just to try to keep from thinking about _him_. After a while Cragen stopped kicking her out; he would just let her stay there. They all hated seeing what this was doing to her. She wasn't the same Bad-Ass Benson everyone knew and loved. She was just a shell of what she used to be.

Eventually two new rookies came to the unit. At first she would do anything not to work with them, but Cragen had set her straight. She eventually tried getting along with her new partner, Nick Amaro. Amaro would never be _him_ though. Nick was young, kind, green at the job; he had been in the military. He was good looking, and Catholic. He was married, with a daughter. His wife was in the military and stationed over in Iraq.

Cragen really knows who to partner her with she thought. She couldn't have been partnered with the other female in the unit now. Nick was like a younger, more open, knock off version of Elliot. She guessed Cragen thought it would bring a lot of familiarity, and she would return to normal.

She eventually learned to trust Nick, and they worked really well together. They would never be as good as her and _him_, but it would be about as close as they could get.

Her love life is a different story. She knew she loved him, but if anyone would ever ask her she would deny it until the end of time. She had thought he had felt the same way, but it was obvious to her he didn't. She finally thought she had met someone who wouldn't break her heart in David Haden. She was mistaken. He chose the job over her. She was sort of upset, but wasn't entirely heartbroken because, after all, he wasn't the man she truly loved.

Then there was Brian Cassidy. After the undercover stuff and Cragen's issue, he had been there to clear Cragen, and put away Bart Ganzel and Delia Wilson. Things were going great for a while. She had gotten past all the stuff from their one night stand 13 years ago. Things were starting to get serious, and she was feeling comfortable in the relationship like a good pair of jeans. Sadly, she always had one man on her mind when it was inconvenient. She hadn't called out his name in bed or anything yet. She just constantly dreamt about him. When she was at work, she thought about how he would do things. Eventually Brian had caught on and told her he couldn't live in the shadows of a man who wasn't coming back. She told him he wasn't, but it wasn't believable.

So there she was alone, again, sitting in her apartment, with a glass of wine. The girls had been trying to get her to go out but she just wasn't feeling up to it tonight for some reason. Work had been pretty stress free surprisingly, mainly paperwork and Cragen told them to leave and enjoy the evening. She didn't feel like sitting in the precinct, so she went home. She wasn't on call this weekend which was a major shock. She was almost hoping Cragen would call her anyway and tell her someone was sick and she was needed on a case.

It was 8:30 on a Friday night and she decided to curl up on the couch and watch a movie. She needed a comedy so she decided to watch White Chicks. It always kept he mind off of things because she couldn't stop laughing. She was about half an hour into the movie when someone knocked on her apartment door. She was shocked because she hadn't buzzed anyone in and her Chinese food was already there and eaten. She thought maybe she was hearing things so ignored it. A few minutes later she heard it again. She was getting creeped out and went to her bedroom. She grabbed her gun from her dresser and walked to the door. She didn't bother checking her peep hole because she knew whoever it was would leave when she pulled her gun. She carefully opened her door to find _him_ standing there getting ready to knock again. When she saw who it was she didn't know whether to slam the door in his face or hug him. She chose the former and it almost hit him.

"Liv…" she heard from the other side of the door.

She opened up the door; with a fury so deep in her eyes he was truly terrified of her.

"NO! NO! NO! You don't get to call me Liv. You are lucky I am even letting you live to tell you this. You don't get to walk in and out of my life when it is convenient for you. You don't know what you leaving without so much as a goodbye did to me. I don't want anything to do with you." She screamed.

"Calm down your neighbors are going to come out and complain. If you will let me come in and tell you what happened then we can go from there." He calmly suggested.

"Not happening, you can march your ass right back to where you came from and leave me and my life alone." She gritted through her teeth. She went to slam the door in his face for the second time that night, but his reflexes were still sharp and he stopped the door with his foot before she got the chance. She turned around to see him hot on her heels. She slapped him causing him to stumble backwards and almost fall to the ground. She walked back to the couch and sat down staring at him with a look that would have killed him.

He walked towards her, but she got up and came towards him as though to attack him again. She raised her arm to strike him again, but this time he anticipated it and grabbed her arm. She tried fighting him off, but his grip wasn't loose enough. He then pulled her in for a hug she didn't fight it anymore. She enjoyed being in his embrace, but she was still pissed beyond hell with him. After standing there for a few moments in silence, Elliot spoke up first.

"We need to talk…" He spoke softly into her hair, and then proceeded to lead her to her couch.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, trying to figure out what exactly to say and who was going to speak first. Finally, after the silence became too much Olivia talked.

"Why did you leave without a goodbye? Was I not good enough to say goodbye to? Did 12 years of partnership mean nothing to you? Because I will tell you something Elliot, it meant a whole helluva lot to me, and I thought it meant something to you too. You don't know how many times I cried myself to sleep, thinking I did something for you to never say goodbye to me. I thought I could have done more, or it should have been me who took that shot, that way you would have still been around." At this point she was pacing around the couch.

"I completely broke down in one of the interrogation rooms after finding out you turned in your papers. I understand why you left the force. It is no surprise after that. What really got me was the fact that you never took the time to call me, text me, or reply to anything I said. I have always been there for you. I have always backed your play and had your six. When Kathy left you, it might not have been unicorns and butterflies between us but I was still there. When you signed the papers, when you found out Kathy was pregnant with Eli, when Kathleen was busted and diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, when Dickie ran away and beat up the hobo with that two by four. I was there for it all." She had stopped pacing, and was just staring at him

"You knew you were right when you said you were the longest relationship I had ever had with a man. You know everything about my past, you have helped me through that crap with Simon, you were the one there for me when they took Calvin away, you saved me so many times. You were my best friend, the only man who had never disappointed me, who had hurt me like the rest had." By this point, Olivia was furious and almost in tears at the same time. Elliot saw this and was heartbroken. He had never seen Olivia this vulnerable.

Elliot pulled Olivia back to the couch so she was sitting with him.

"Liv, you have to understand that I never meant to hurt you. After I shot Jenna I was such a mess. I couldn't get the images of her lying in my arms not moving out of my head. That image along with the images of you with Sister Peg, and the look on your face when it all happened. I couldn't stand to think you saw me as a child killer. I thought that what I was doing was for the best. Olivia, I was no good the person I had become after that. I couldn't let you see me that way. I began to drink heavily; I was an even angrier person. Kathy finally got tired of putting up with it and kicked me out, took Eli away, and that just made things worse. For a while I wouldn't even get up out of bed. I seriously considered ending it, and you know my views on suicide." Elliot was in tears now, voice weakening

"I had lost everything I had: my job, my loveless marriage, my kids, and you. After I realized my life was nothing, I was determined to get better. I promised myself as soon as I was back to the Elliot I use to be, if not better, I would come see you. Kathy eventually talked to me again and we worked out a custody agreement with Eli. I get him every other weekend, and my other kids visit when they can. Olivia… Liv, I know it is going to take a lot for me to even begin to make up for being a bastard, but I hope you can see past all of that and let me back into your life, even as a friend, because frankly I know I don't deserve to be your best friend again. Just being in your life at all is something I would be forever grateful for."

Olivia was shocked with how open Elliot had been. The Elliot she had known never showed vulnerability, yet here he was spilling his guys out to her.

"I will be willing to let you back into my life Elliot, but you have to earn my trust back. I can't just lay everything out for it to be shattered again. I couldn't handle it again," she whispered.

"I am willing to do that. Whatever it takes I will do it."


	2. The Confrontation

Chapter 2

It had been a week since Elliot had shown up at her apartment and things were going pretty well. He had come over for dinner a few times. He would just show up with Chinese, and wait for her to get home. He still had his emergency key she gave to him many years ago. The first time he used it she jumped a foot in the air and pulled her gun on him, because she wasn't expecting him to be there. He laughed, and they sat there for hours just talking. He didn't go home until after one in the morning. The next couple times, he texted her and she didn't jump when she entered her. He never stayed the night but they always had a good time, whether it was talking or watching a movie to unwind from the day.

Nobody at the 1-6 knew that he was back in her life, or even if he was still in the land of the living. Both Elliot and Olivia agreed that it would be better for their friendship to strengthen before he went down there. The only thing they knew was that Olivia's mood had improved drastically. It was almost a complete one eighty from where she was a week ago.

Another two weeks went by and life was fantastic. Elliot and Olivia were back in sync with each other after the first week and a half. This time though, they could be in sync as El and Liv, not Benson and Stabler.

One night they sat on Olivia's couch. It had been a long stressful day for Olivia. She and Elliot had agreed that watching a movie would be the perfect way to unwind. Olivia was having trouble staying awake and eventually laid her head on Elliot's shoulder. He put her arm around like it was the most natural thing in the world. She snuggled in closer to him and quickly fell asleep. Once he realized she was asleep he didn't want to disturb her so he laid down on her couch and pulled her along with him. He also fell asleep before the end of the movie. They were rudely awakened by the sound of Olivia's alarm. They got up and Olivia got ready for her day, while Elliot went into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Olivia went into her bathroom to jump into the shower, and then get dressed. She wore a pair of black slacks, white cami, and red vested shirt. She brushed on some light make up and walked out of her room. When she walked out of her bedroom, she smelled the most delightful smell in the world at the moment. Elliot was standing there making breakfast. He saw her walk in and smiled his Stabler-grin at her.

Neither of them had said much to the other this morning. Olivia broke the silence.

"Smells great."

"Why thank you, we have French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon on the menu today. I figured you could actually eat real food before going to work for a change." He repliedhanding her a cup of coffee and her plate.

"Thank you so much, Elliot. Don't spoil me too much. If you keep doing stuff like this, I just might have to keep you around." She joked.

"So Liv I was thinking while making breakfast this morning, and I was wondering if maybe I could come by the station today and pick you up for lunch. Plus I would like to see everyone again, and meet the rookies." he suggested.

"Elliot if that is what you want to do then I am totally fine with you coming to the precinct. As far as lunch is concerned, if we don't catch a case that keeps me too busy I would love to."

"Great," he smiled "It means a lot that you would be ok with it. How about I come around about 11 that way I can talk to people before we go to lunch?" Elliot asked.

"Sounds fine with me, I should get going before I am late and Cragen has my ass. See you at eleven. Oh and don't forget to lock up when you leave." She smiled and waved as she left her apartment.

Elliot was jubilant that she agreed to go to lunch with him. He cleaned up from breakfast and did the dishes. When he looked over at the clock he saw it wasn't even 9. He decided to go back to his place and get ready for lunch.

Meanwhile at the precinct, Olivia was working on paperwork. They had no new cases, so paperwork was the only thing left to do. She was anxious for eleven to get there. She didn't know how everyone was going to react, and her leg was bouncing up and down like a madman. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the squad.

"Yo, baby-girl what has got you so nervous?" Fin asked not being able to take it anymore.

"Yeah, Liv I have never seen you like this. Are you on something because lately you haven't been the Olivia I have known since I started here." Nick asked warily.

"Maybe the government got to her and placed chemicals in her place so she has been acting differently." Munch suggested.

"Shut up, you old bony coot. The government didn't get to her." Fin argued.

Olivia didn't want to deal with those two arguing so she quickly spoke up.

"Fin is right Munch the government didn't get to me." She rolled her eyes. "As for why I am nervous you will just have to wait for later today to find that one out." She smirked.

She heard her phone vibrate and she looked down and saw she had a text message from Elliot. The smile on her face grew. It was about 10:15 a.m. and she opened the text.

**So are we still on for lunch?**

_Yes we are, I am nervous about you coming down to the precinct and the squad has noticed, like they are detectives or something lol._

**Lol, no not those guys, and why are you nervous honey?**

'Did he just call me honey? He must have accidently typed it not thinking.' she thought.

_Just scared to see how they will react._

**Well calm down, everything will be fine, I promise. I will see you in about half an hour. Bye babe.**

She was confused now. First he called her honey then babe. She liked him a lot, but they weren't even dating and he was calling her honey and babe. She shook it off as just not realizing what he was typing.

Half an hour passed and she was waiting for him to walk through the doors. Cragen walked out of his office and spoke.

"Olivia, Munch, Fin, can you come to my office please?"

They all looked around at each other and questioned what this was about. They shrugged at each other and walked into captain's office. He shut the door behind them. A few minutes later Elliot walked into the squad room. He started looking around for Olivia. He didn't see a familiar face the only people he saw were a young man with black hair and a young blonde woman. Elliot was confused and thought he had gone to the wrong floor. Nick had seen him enter and walked over when the man looked around.

"Can I help you?" Nick inquired.

"I'm looking for Detective Benson. Do you know where she is?" Elliot asked the younger man, not knowing who he was.

"She is in the captain's office; she should be out any moment. Is there anything I can help you with?" Nick questioned wondering who this man was and why this man was looking for his partner.

Just a he was about to answer he saw the three detectives he knew and his former captain walk out of the office. He smiled when he saw everyone. They all saw him as soon as they were all out of the office and everyone except Olivia had stopped and stared like they had just seen a ghost. Both Nick and Amanda were confused as to why this person had caused such reaction. Munch was the first one to say something.

"Well I be damned if it isn't Elliot Stabler in the flesh and blood. How are you man?"

"Hey John, I am good. Hey Fin, hey Cap." Elliot responded.

"Elliot, it is great to see you here, but why are you here exactly?" Cragen asked.

"Well actually I am here to pick Liv up for lunch, but I came early to talk to you guys and see everyone." Elliot answered his former boss.

Everyone looked over at Olivia who was watching everything unfold in front of her. They wanted to see how she was going to react to him being there, unaware of the fact that those two were closer than before he left.

"So you are the Elliot Stabler we have heard all about." Amanda said breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"That would be me. And I am sure what you heard was not good, but I deserve it and am here to make everything up to my friends." He said looking at them.

By this time Olivia had walked over to stand beside Elliot, they were basically holding hands. Everyone was looking at them like they had each sprouted another head. Finally Cragen asked the question everyone had been dying to ask.

"Olivia you're ok with him?"

"Yes, I am. He showed up to my apartment about a month ago and we talked. Well… after I hit him," she smirked, and watched her coworkers do the same, "we talked over everything, and we are friends again."

Fin, who hadn't said a word since he saw Elliot standing there, was still shooting him daggers. Finally he said something.

"No offense baby-girl, but have you lost your god damn mind. He walked out of here and never said a word to any of us. For three years you hadn't heard from him. One night he knocks on your door and all of a sudden you are best friends again?" he then tuned to Elliot

"You have a lot of balls showing up after what you did to her. I don't know if she told you this but I am going to say it anyway. She was so broken because you decided to be an ass, like always, and just leave. I don't care that you didn't talk to the rest of us, but she deserved something more. You are lucky I don't beat your ass here and now. She cried for every night for weeks because of you. All I have to say is if you every hurt her again, you don't have to worry about anything because I will hunt you down, and kill you myself, and I won't regret it one bit. I am sure Munch, Cragen and every other male in Olivia's life would agree."

"I deserved that Fin, and I would never do anything to hurt her again on purpose. Frankly though what you said to Olivia in the beginning was unnecessary. She is an amazing person for forgiving me because I know I sure as hell don't deserve it. So watch who you are talking to." Elliot demanded.


	3. The Question

Chapter 3

By this time Fin was still glaring at what Elliot said to him. Fin and Elliot had never been the best of friends, but they were pals. That was until Elliot left and shattered Olivia. Now it was no secret that Fin thought of her as his little sister and what do most big brothers do when their little sister gets hurt? Go after the asshole that hurt her. Now for Fin this was a bit hard to do considering that for 3 years no one had heard from Elliot. Now that Elliot was in the precinct though, Fin wasn't just going to stand by and welcome him with open arms. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a sword. Everyone was standing waiting for one of them to say something or move. Neither did a thing just stared each other down. Eventually Olivia spoke up.

"El, let's go get lunch." She gently placed her hand on his arm. Just like it always did for 12 years, he calmed down immediately.

"Ok, where would you like to go?" he asked as though none of that just happened.

"How about we go get Chinese down the street that is if Cap says it's ok for me to leave for lunch." Olivia replied looking at her superior for approval.

"Go on you two go take a lunch, and Elliot when you bring her back I would like to talk to you." Cragen told him with an unemotional tone.

"Yes, sir." Elliot responded with a slight smirk. He then turned around and grabbed Liv's coat and held it open for her. As they walked away Elliot put his hand on her lower back. Everyone was still standing there from what had happened between Fin and Elliot. They all stood there for a moment more and captain told everyone to get back to work.

Meanwhile at the restaurant they were waiting for their food to get done. They sat at the table and were sort of silent. Finally Elliot talked.

"I'm sorry for making a big deal out of all of that. I just didn't like what he was implying." He looked at her and waited for her reaction.

"There is no need to apologize. If it were you he was attacking like that I would have stepped up." She commented with a smile.

"But I didn't need you to defend me to him. I'm not saying you needed me to do it for you, but he was right about me. I deserved everything he said to me." He said grabbing her hand across the table. They both felt the spark when they held hands. He then continued.

"Liv… this isn't easy for me to say, and I know I don't deserve you. I was wondering if you would like to go on an official date with me tomorrow night." He was nervous to see her reaction.

She just stared at him processing what had just happened. The man she has been in love with for the past 15 years asked her on a date.

The look on his face was starting to turn worried when she didn't respond in a few minutes. He took his hand away from hers. They both missed the contact right away.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I thought you wanted to I must have gotten the wrong impression. If you want we can pretend I never said anything. I just don't want to ruin our friendship." He rambled out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Elliot. I would love to go out on a date with you. You weren't wrong when you thought I had feelings for you. I do have feelings for you, and I would be honored to go on a date with you." She stated smiling at him, and he smiled back at her with his Stabler-grin that she loves.

Finally their food came and they ate food off of each other's plates just like old times and they enjoyed just being in each other's company. After they finished lunch, they headed back to the precinct hand in hand. When they got up to the squad room they dropped hands. They had decided not to tell the squad until after a few dates. They agreed to tell Cragen though. Elliot knocked on Cragen's door and waited to be told to enter.

"Well first off I would like to say welcome back into our lives. It is great to see you two close friends again." Cragen said with a smile on his face.

"Actually, while we were at lunch, I asked her on a date. She agreed." Elliot smiled, waiting to see Cragen's response.

"Well it's about damn time," Cragen smiled. "I would have figured I would have had to talk to you guys about this years ago. I am happy for you. Although I will say this, Olivia is like my daughter and if you hurt her again, both Fin and I will be hunting you down. Is that understood?" Cragen asked with a stern voice and face.

"Yes it is, and like I told Fin, I plan on never hurting her ever again. In all honesty I love her way too much. I didn't think leaving the way I did would affect her as much as it did." Elliot cringed. He hated thinking about what he did to Olivia.

"As long as we are understood here, you are free to go," Cragen acting as if he were still Elliot's commanding officer.

Elliot stepped out of Cragen's office and was heading to Olivia's desk to tell her bye, when he heard screeching. He looked up and saw his two favorite ADAs standing in the doorway. Alex and Casey made their way over to him and hugged him. After doing so they slapped him in the shoulder. They were pissed off at him too, but unlike Fin they were happy to see him. They dragged him out into the hallway to talk to him.

"What are you doing here?" Casey asked.

"Well I just got back from lunch with a certain brown haired detective," He smirked, knowing that they were going to go bother Olivia for all the details.

"So you just appeared here today and asked her to lunch? Wow, you have a lot of balls Stabler," Alex said astounded.

"Not exactly, I have been back in Liv's life for about month now," Elliot replied.

"What?!" Both of the ADA's had gasped at the same time.

"And she didn't tell us. Oh I am going to have some words with her," Casey said ready to go yell at Olivia.

"Well to be fair she didn't tell anyone so don't bother her too much about it. Please," Elliot pleaded.

"Fine, I guess I will play nice," Casey rolled her eyes.

"Thank you," Elliot grinned.

Elliot walked back into the squad room and said goodbye to Olivia. He informed her that he would be at her apartment when she got home, and then he yelled goodbye to the squad and left.


	4. The Date

The Date

It was the following evening, and Olivia was standing in her apartment, in front of her closet, trying to decide what she was going to wear. She had showered, done her make-up, and only had to put a few finishing touched on her hair after she dressed. Elliot would be there in 45 minutes so she had to hurry.

She had narrowed her outfit choices down to two choices. Choice number one was tight, dark wash, skinny jeans, a wine colored, low cut, scoop neck shirt, with leather boots. Outfit number two was black slacks, a dark blue, V-neck shirt, and a pair of black flats. She decided that the first outfit would be better for a date while the second one would be better suited for work. She quickly put on her outfit, and put the finishing touches on her hair, which she had straightened. Her hair was similar to what it had looked like in the eighth year of their partnership, without the blond streaks and her bangs swept to one side instead of going straight across. She spritzed on the perfume that he loved when he knocked on her door.

Olivia walked over to the door and took a deep breath before she opened it. She wasn't completely sure why she was nervous, it was just Elliot. Well that answered her question, it was Elliot, the man who knew her inside and out.

She snapped out of her thoughts, and realized that he was staring at her and scanning her body up and down. She gave him a once over. He was wearing a blue shirt that made his eyes sparkle a shade that she had never seen before, and faded blue jeans that made his ass look great. His mouth was hanging open and she wasn't sure what it meant. He realized that he was staring and that she was getting self-conscious.

"Liv... you look fantastic," Elliot commented stunned.

"Thanks, you don't look to bad yourself," she joked with a hint of seriousness in her voice to let him know that it was true.

"Well, I try," he smirked "Let's get going shall we?" he held out his hand for her to grab. She grabbed it and they walked out the door, locking it behind her.

They got into Elliot's car, and went off to their destination, that only he knew where it was. She wasn't normally a fan of surprises when going on dates, because you never know what a guy might think of, especially when you do the kind of work she does. With Elliot though, she knew that she had no reason to be afraid. They pulled up to a park, and Elliot opened the door for Olivia. After doing so, he walked over to the trunk of the car, and pulled out a blanket and a picnic basket. They started walking around the park.

"El, where are we walking to?" Olivia questioned, a bit curious about where they were going.

"You'll see. Do you trust me Liv?" he asks. She simply nods and they walked over to a secluded spot by the lake and he laid out the blanket. She gasped at the sight.

"Oh El, its lovely," she smiled. The temperature was just right by the lake and the sun was setting to make it romantic.

"Well only the best for my girl," he stated as he got the food out of the basket. He scooted over to and put his arm around her. She leaned into his embrace. She enjoys being wrapped up in his arms, it has always made her feel safe. Their peace was interrupted by Liv's stomach growling, and they both chuckled.

"Sorry about that, I missed out on lunch because of our case." she apologized.

"It's quite alright, I remember what it was like honey." he replies, and she blushes. She still wasn't used to being called pet names, especially by El.

They start to eat. Elliot had made chicken fettuccini Alfredo, and cheesy garlic bread. For dessert he had turtle cheesecake, which he knew was Olivia's weakness. He had also bought a bottle of fancy red wine, which he knew she would love. As Olivia was eating she would make what he thought were the most adorable and yet sexy faces and noises. They had some chatter while eating, but no big conversation was happening.

"So how are the kids?" Olivia spoke up. She had heard a little here and there about them, mainly that they were doing well, and that they were busy, but she figured she should ask about them. Those kids were a part of her life for 12 years. She had done so much for them and they always made her feel like she was part of the family.

"Well, I don't see a whole lot of Maureen and Kathleen. They are busy with their jobs. Maureen is an OB/GYN at Mercy General, just finished her residency about 8 months ago and is enjoying her job immensely. She is married actually." he beamed proudly.

"She met a guy named Ryan Johnson when she was in graduate school. He is an accountant for some big corporation that I never remember the name of, but he enjoys his job and loves my daughter."

"Wow, I am happy for her." Olivia smiled. She always had a feeling Maureen would do something big and wonderful with her life. She was always trying to be her best, and wanted to help people.

"Kathleen is working for a fashion magazine right now. She just finished getting her degree in journalism, and they are giving her a chance to write articles for them. If she does a good job, they will give her a more permanent position. She is taking her medication still which I am still grateful that you went and talked to my mother." He said softly.

"Lizzie is currently studying to become a lawyer at NYU, she eventually wants to become the SVU A.D.A. Dickie, or should I say Richard, is studying to become a software designer. He has a love for computers, so he thought that it would be a good major for him to try, and so far he loves it. He is currently going to Hudson." Again he had a proud look on his face, and honestly he had every right to have it. His older kids were great kids, sure they got into trouble every once in a while, but what kids didn't.

"You are forgetting my favorite Elliot Stabler!" she joked. At hearing this El looked over and started tickling her mercilessly. Finally she gave in and he stopped tickling her. After they had both settled he spoke up again.

"I was getting there," he stated "Eli is doing great, he is seven and a half already. He will be starting the first grade in a few weeks. Like you know, he stays at my apartment every other weekend, but Kathy usually lets me see him whenever I want. He does remember you, in case you were wondering. He doesn't remember a whole lot from when I was at SVU, but I have pictures of you around the apartment and we talk about you. In fact this weekend is my weekend with him, and I was going to see if you wanted to come over and spend it with us. That is if you don't have work, or any other plans." He asked a bit timidly.

"Well, I will have to ask my other boyfriend if it's ok with hi-" she was cut off with him once again tickling her. After he stopped, once she could breathe again she answered "of course El, I would love to spend time with you and Eli. This upcoming weekend is Fin and Amanda's weekend to catch anyway, so work won't be an issue."

Elliot knew that Olivia had a soft spot for Eli since she was there when he was brought into the world and was the first one to actually hold him. He knew that she loved all of his kids.

By this time, the sun had long set, and the temperature was dropping. Olivia hadn't thought to bring a jacket since she didn't think it would be getting chilly, and was now slightly shivering. Seeing this, Elliot took it upon himself to wrap his arm around her and suggest they leave. She was all for going back home, since she had to work in the morning. What neither of them wanted though was for the night to end. They walked to the car hand in hand, and Elliot opened her door for her. They drove back to Olivia's apartment, and Elliot walked up to the apartment with her. They decided to sit on the couch for a little while. Soon Olivia was fast asleep on Elliot's shoulder. When he saw this he decided it was best to put her in her bed. He picked her up bridal style and carried her into her room, he pulled back her blankets and set her down and covered her up. He gazed at her for a few minutes, thinking about how beautiful she was, and how lucky he was that she was giving him the chance to be what she needed. Just as he was getting up to leave, her hand grabbed his wrist and she barely opened her eyes.

"Stay" she said, it wasn't a question, yet it wasn't a command, it was a mere suggestion.

With that he pulled back the covers on the other side and slipped into the bed with her. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat, and was quickly back asleep. He wrapped his arms around her, and soon fell asleep. It was the best night's sleep either of them had ever had.


	5. The Weekend

The weekend had come quickly and soon it was time for Olivia to spend time with Elliot and Eli. Little did she know, she was going to be surprised with guests. After she had agreed to spend the weekend with El and Eli, Elliot had got to thinking. He wanted to gather all of his kids in one place so they could all see Olivia again. He knew how much his kids meant to her, and how much she meant to them in return. He had called all of his kids, and told them that he wanted to spend some quality time with them. He told them that they had no choice and they needed to come over. What he left out though, was that Olivia was also going to be there. He told the kids to be at his apartment by six, and he knew that Olivia probably wouldn't be at his place until around six thirty, seeing she had to finish up her paperwork from the past weeks cases.

At about ten till six Richard and Lizzie had showed up, taking one car to save gas. They were greeted by an excited Eli, who hadn't seen them in a while since they had been busy with college. Roughly five minutes later Maureen and Ryan show up. Kathleen was five minutes late to the apartment, explaining she had to make sure the editor of the magazine got her article so it would be printed in the next edition.

Six forty-five rolled around and there was a knock on the door.

"Kids, can you get that for me. I am finishing dinner right now." Elliot asked knowing who was at the door and that this would be interesting.

Lizzie got up and opened the door with her siblings behind her, because this was New York after all and you never know who would be on the other side of the door. When they opened the door, they didn't expect Olivia Benson to be on the other side.

Olivia also had no idea that the older kids would be joining them. In her arms she had a present for Eli. Everyone just stood in shock for a moment, not knowing what to say or think. They just stared at each other. Finally when the shock wore off everyone, except for Ryan, went to hug Liv. She was happy that they had all been excited to see her. She was just as excited to see them. She made her rounds hugging each child or, now in the case of everyone but Eli, adult. They were all so excited to see her that they were bombarding her with questions all at once and she couldn't keep up. Elliot seeing that she was slightly overwhelmed came in to the room to save her.

"Guys… guys," he said, but they couldn't hear him over all their chatter "GUYS!" he finally had to yell.

That quieted everyone down. They all looked at him.

"Take turns asking questions, she can answer what she wants, but she can't answer you all at once." He suggested, and he saw the thankful look on her face when he looked back at her.

"Let me get this out of the way before we start questions, your father knew that I was coming over here for the weekend, I knew that Eli was going to be here, but I was not aware that you older ones were going to be here," She shot an evil, yet teasing glare at Elliot "I am so glad to see all of you guys, it's been forever, and I have missed all of you."

Richard spoke up for the group, "well, if it makes you feel any better, dad didn't tell us you were coming over either." That time everyone gave Elliot _the_ look.

"Hey with all fairness, I wanted to surprise all of you." He said with his hands in the air, like he was surrendering. Everyone rolled their eyes at him, and they turned back to Liv. The kids asked their questions and Olivia answered the ones she could with the truth. She was formally introduced to Maureen's husband Ryan. She gave Eli his gift, which was a set of hot wheels cars. He absolutely loved them and went off to play with them, but was stopped.

"You can play with them after dinner Eli, go wash your hands and then we are going to eat." Eli wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer, but decided arguing with his father wasn't a good idea.

Everyone gathered around the table and ate. There was a slight chatter, but even when it was quiet it was never awkward. They decided to watch a movie, and the kids would just crash at the apartment for the night. They chose to watch Man of Steel, it had the action for the guys, and the girls could look at Henry Cavill, well Olivia liked Colonel Hardy better, he reminded her of El. Liv and El were seated on the love seat, Ryan and Maureen, were cuddled on one end of the couch and Lizzie was sitting on the other end, and Richard and Kathleen were sitting on the floor. Eli chose to go play with his gift in his room, rather than watch the movie with the adults.

About half way through the movie everyone was falling asleep. It was decided that they would stop the movie and call it a night.

"Ryan and Maureen, you guys can take the spare room, Richard you can take the bottom bunk in Eli's room if you want. Kathleen and Lizzie you guys can fight over who get the couch and who gets the love seat. Liv and I are going into my room." When Elliot said that all of the kids made an oooh noise.

"Knock it off guys, you are all more mature than that." Elliot growled with a tiredness in his voice.

"Night guys, see ya in the morning." Liv said walking into El's bedroom, with him right behind her.

They climbed into bed and slept peacefully all night, wrapped in each other's arms.

When Elliot woke up the next morning, he was staring at Olivia taking in how beautiful she was, and wondering how he got lucky for her to let him back into her life. A little later she started stirring in his arms, and he snapped back to the land of here and now. She looked up at him with sleep still in her eyes.

"Good morning, baby." She mumbled sleepily and tilted her head up to kiss him.

"Good morning to you too, honey." He replied and kissed her again.

"So what are we going to do today?" Liv asked a little more awake than she previously was.

"I was thinking we could all go out for breakfast, and then do something as a family."

At the word family Olivia tensed up a bit. She had never been really a part of a family. Sure she considered everyone at the 1-6 to be like her family but they never got together and did things like a family. They were more of the supportive, if you need something don't be afraid to ask type of family. Not really the lets go out ask a group for a meal and hang out with each other on our day off type of family.

She thought about it, and realized that she really was part of this family and that she needed to learn to accept that. She had no intentions of ever letting Elliot go, she knew for a long time that if she ever got the chance to be with him that he was the last guy who would ever have any part of her. He already has all of her, he just wasn't completely aware of it. She already knew that she would never run from him. They had done enough running from each other.

Feeling Olivia tense up, he rubbed her back and decided that maybe that wasn't the correct word to use quite yet. She was still trying to get use to the idea of them dating and here he was throwing out the word family to her like it's nothing he figured.

"I would love nothing more than to have a family outing." She told him with a smile on her face.

Elliot could feel his heart swell when she used the word family, and had the biggest smile on his face.

Everyone got up, and they all went out to breakfast, and talked about the most recent happenings in their lives. After breakfast they went to the mall and they separated, girls went with Liv, guys went with El. Olivia realized how much she had truly missed spending time with the Stabler clan and that she would have to work something out with them so they could hang out occasionally. After the mall the older kids all had other things they needed to do with the rest of their weekends. They drove back to Elliot's apartment, and then after some tearful goodbyes, went their separate ways.

Elliot, Olivia and Eli went back up to Elliot's apartment and Eli took a nap, exhausted from the excitement of the day. Elliot and Olivia sat on the couch cuddling and relaxing while watching TV.

"You know that I love you right?" Elliot asked during a commercial.

Olivia's head whipped up to look at him quickly, not because she was caught off guard by what he was saying, but because he was questioning that she knew about his feelings for her.

"Of course I know you love me El, and I sure as hell hope you know that I love you too." She said to him.

"I know you do, I can see it in your eyes whenever you look at me, and I have always been able to read you and your eyes."

"Likewise baby. Just know that nothing would ever make me stop loving you." She leaned up to kiss him

"Olivia Benson, I love you with all my heart." He said with his voice cracking with emotion.

With tears in her eyes she replied "Elliot Stabler, I love you with all my heart."


	6. The Argument

The Argument

Things had been going great with Elliot and Olivia. They had been dating for 5 months, and loving every moment of it. Olivia was glad that Elliot knew that she had a crazy uncontrollable work schedule, and understood when she had to cancel on him.

They hadn't seen much of each other in the recent weeks. SVU was getting piled with case after case, and Olivia had barely seen the inside of her apartment in a month. When she wasn't at work, she was at Elliot's apartment, only to be called back in a couple of hours later.

It was times like this she hated being so damn good at her job. Being as good as she was meant that she was needed to help make breaks in the case or provide a new prospective. Besides she had the best luck getting the victims to open up.

They had finally caught up on all the open cases and finished their reports. Olivia was dead on her feet. She hadn't slept properly in a while, and she wanted to go to her apartment and sleep for the next 24 hours.

Cragen was aware of just how exhausted his lead detective was. She had gotten the least amount of sleep out if his entire squad.

"Liv, go home, you can barely keep yourself sitting upright. I am ordering you take three days to rest and recuperate."

"Cap, that won't be necessary. I just need to get a decent night's sleep and I will be good as new in the morning" Olivia argued. She didn't like being sent home for more than a day after a case. It usually ended up with her being bored out of her mind.

"I'm not going to argue with you Olivia. You are taking three days and that's an order. You are not to come within 100 yards of this precinct. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Cap" she muttered too tired to continue arguing with him about it.

"Good, now go home."

Olivia was glad that she had taken a cab to the precinct, because she was in no condition to drive. As she walked out she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Elliot's cell.

"Hey beautiful" he answered. He always made her smile even when he didn't try.

"Hey handsome, just wanted to let you know that Cragen just let me loose for three day, and I'm headed to my apartment."

"Wait, he gave you three days, and you are accepting it?"

"I'm too tired to argue with anyone."

"Well if that's the case baby, let me meet you at the precinct and I will drive you home. I don't want you to pass out in a cab back to your place."

"El, I'm fine. It's only a 16 block ride."

"And you sound like you could drop at any minute. Please humor me and let me drive you home."

"Fine," she conceded "if it will make you feel better you can come pick me up."

If Olivia was being honest with herself she really didn't want to go through all the trouble of flagging down a cab, and making sure she stayed awake enough to get to her apartment.

"Thank you, I will be outside in two minutes."

True to his word, Elliot pulled up two minutes later. Normally Olivia would question how he had gotten there so fast, but she was way too tired to do much of anything. She pulled on her seatbelt and leaned her head against the window.

In no time at all she was out like a light and Elliot grinned. Olivia was so cute when she was sleeping. He loved watching her sleep, because her face was free of worry and stress.

It took them about 20 minutes to get back to her apartment. Elliot tried to wake her up, but she just kept mumbling incoherently.

He got out of the car and walked over to her side. He opened the door making sure she wouldn't fall when he opened it. Gently, he unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her bridal style. He was glad that he had a set of keys to her apartment so he wouldn't have to go digging through her pockets.

Miraculously, he was able to open the door to her apartment without dropping her or disrupting her sleep. When he was walking to her bedroom, she cuddled into him and put her arms around his neck.

At first he had thought she had woken up, but when he glanced down he saw that she was still fast asleep. He set her down on the bed, and when he tried to leave though, she gripped onto him tighter.

He stopped for a moment, let her grip loosen, and tried again. Just like the previous attempt though, she just tightened her grip on him.

Elliot decided that the easiest thing to do would just to lay with her and eventually she would let go. Plus he had no problems about cuddling with his girl. Soon Elliot fell asleep right along with Olivia.

The next day Elliot and Olivia were eating Chinese food on her couch, enjoying the fact that they finally had some uninterrupted time together.

Elliot set his food down on the coffee table, and looked at Olivia. At seeing this Olivia also set her food down on the table. He had a really serious look on his face, and she was concerned.

"So… I've been thinking, and I think you should move in with me" he stated nervously.

Olivia was shocked to say the least. They hadn't been dating for very long, and while she loved Elliot she wasn't sure she was ready to make that big of a move yet.

"Elliot, I'm not sure that's a good idea" she replied quietly.

"Well why not, Olivia?" he was getting defensive.

"We haven't been dating that long, and you have only been back in my life for a short time. How do I know that you're not going to get tired of me and find someone better?"

If Olivia was honest with herself, she was still worried that Elliot would find someone better.

"What do you mean find someone better? Olivia there is no one better than you! I love you with all my heart and you know that!" By the end of that statement, Elliot was yelling.

"Really, because I think that if you really loved me like you say you do, then you wouldn't have left me for 3 years without any contact!"

"Seriously, you are bringing this up again? I thought we got past this. I told you my reasons for leaving! Besides, I'm not the one who abandoned our partnership to go play with Eco Terrorist in Oregon, or went to Computer Crimes when things got a little tough! You always do this, run when things get serious. I should have known that you wouldn't settle down for me. Do you even love me?" Elliot was standing up and pacing.

"Really? Bringing up Computer Crimes and Oregon. And I'm the one beating a dead horse? That was 8 years ago. How can you stand there and question my love for you? You know that I don't use those word with anyone and I said that to you. If you really don't think I love you, then… maybe you should leave."

At this point Olivia didn't want to argue. She really just wanted to lock herself in her room and cry, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing it.

"But just know this, Elliot. You walk out of that door, and you might as well not come back. I'm not going to play games Elliot, and if you don't want to be with me then go ahead and leave."

With that Olivia got up. She just left him there and went into her room. She couldn't watch him walk out of her life, and she had a feeling that's exactly what he was going to do.


	7. The Apology

The Apology

Authors Note: This chapter will have smut!

It took Elliot a moment to realize what had just happened. Once he realized that the argument actually happened, he dropped to the couch and cried.

Elliot Stabler was a man who didn't cry at much, but the possibility of losing the best thing in his life, besides his kids, crushed him.

How could he question her love for him? Why was he such an idiot? He knew that she truly loved him, and he should have never said that to her. Things happened so fast, and he knew that he didn't mean it. Now it was his job to make her see how sorry he was.

Elliot heard sobs coming from the other side of her door, and that broke him even more. He never wanted to be the reason she was crying, unless they were happy tears. He was determined to make things better.

After he was done crying, Elliot got up and walked over to her door. He knocked on it lightly, and when he didn't hear her say anything, he cracked it open. He saw her shoulders bouncing up and down with her face in the pillows.

He broke again and walked over to the bed. Gently he sat down on the bed and put a hand on her back. She looked at him with tears falling down her cheeks and her eyes watering. That's when he scooped her up into his arms and sobbed with her. They fell asleep that way.

A few hours later, Olivia woke up with a headache. She tried to get up to get some Tylenol, but the pair of arms around her tightened. She looked at him and saw the tear tracks on his face.

He didn't leave, she thought. This caused her to have a small sad smile on her face.

She tried to move again.

"No, Olivia don't leave" Elliot muttered in his sleep. Olivia figured that she would give it another moment. She then tried to move again.

"Olivia, I'm sorry, please don't go" he cried softly.

Now she decided that waking him would be a good idea.

"El… Elliot, wake up" she coaxed gently, not wanting to startle him.

He blinked, confused for a moment on where he was. When he realized that he was in Olivia's apartment with Olivia in his arm he squeezed her in the tightest hug he could.

"Liv, I am so sorry baby. I should have never said the things that I did. I didn't mean them, please don't leave me. I love you, I swear that I love you! I am sorry for everything I have ever done to you. I have never meant to hurt you."

"Elliot, you need to loosen up. I need to breathe" she gasped. He realized that he was holding on to her really tight and let up on his hold without letting her go.

"Sorry about that" he replied sheepishly.

"It's ok, but I do think we need to talk" Elliot nodded in agreement.

Olivia took a deep breath and began.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you. I know that you love me, it's just sometimes I get freaked that you are going to realize that you can do better than me, and realize that you are settling. I… I don't know what… what I… would do if I lost you. You are my everything, and if I lose you then I don't have anything. I have been without you once, and I barely made it. We were only best friends at the time, but now that we are something more, I… I honestly don't think I would survive," she confessed.

"I hate that you think that you aren't good enough for me, or that you think I'm settling. The truth is that you are the one who is settling. You can and have done better than me, so I have no idea why you are with me. I love you so much though. I never plan on leaving you. EVER."

Olivia could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth. She loved being able to read his eyes, it made a lot of things about them easier. She saw all the love in the world in his gaze and it made her heart swell.

She leaned forward and kissed him. Elliot was shocked for a moment and then reacted with passion and fervor. His slid his tongue along the seam of her lips and she opened them up. Elliot slid his hands under her shirt and rubbed her sides and stomach.

Olivia lifted her arms up to allow Elliot to life up her shirt. He didn't waste any time. She unbuttoned Elliot's pants. Elliot stood up and took his pant off while Olivia did the same with her pants. Elliot then pulled off his shirt. As soon as it was over his head Liv attacked his lips again. He worked on her bra and got it unhooked.

Elliot messaged her breasts while sucking on her neck. Olivia could feel herself getting more turned on by the minute. Elliot latched onto her left nipple swirling his tongue around and then gently tugging on it with his teeth. Not wanting to neglect the other breast he gave it the same treatment.

By this time, Olivia's panties were soaked. He always knew how to get her wild. She snaked her hand to the front and started rubbing his hardening cock through his boxers. Elliot kissed his way down her body, and pulled off her panties. He proceeded to kiss up her thigh. He licked her outer lips and then dipped his tongue inside.

At the feeling of this Olivia bucked her hips up and towards his mouth. Elliot placed his hand onto her hip to keep her down. His tongue flicked her clit, and then his lips attached around it, suckling. Then he added his a finger, then another. Just when she was about to hit the brink he stopped.

"Elliot! What the hell. You better get over here and finish this" she was incredibly frustrated with him now.

He pulled off his boxers, freeing his painfully hard erection. He walked back over to and lined himself up.

"Are you sure you wanna do this Liv?" Elliot smirked.

"Elliot, if you don't get inside me now, you are never going to be having sex again" Olivia growled.

Elliot gulped once slightly afraid, but even more turned on. Slowly he pushed into Olivia. She let out a low moan that went straight to Elliot's cock. He gave her a moment to adjust to his larger size. No matter how many times they did this, it always felt like the first time to them both.

Slowly he started thrusting in and out of her, slowly rebuilding the friction. They were both letting out guttural moans and sounds. She had the sheets balled up in her hands and her knuckles were turning white. Elliot was nipping and sucking on her neck and leaving his mark.

He was close to his climax, so he snaked one had down in-between them and rubbed her clit. He started off slowly rubbing and then sped up gradually. Olivia's back arched off the bed and she tightened around him like a vice. He wasn't able to move and he released inside her. They both came down from their blissful releases.

Elliot rolled them over while still inside of her so that she was laying on top of him.

"So, I'm going to take that as we are ok" Elliot smiled sleepily.

"Yeah baby, we're ok," Olivia snuggled her head further into his chest "I love you" she yawned.

"I know babe, and I love you too."


	8. The Discussion

The Discussion

Disclaimer: You know how it goes… they don't belong to me yadda yadda yadda….

Olivia still had one more day off from work, and she figured that she and Elliot should have a talk. Even though they had made up, the topic was still hanging between them. She wanted to discuss like two grown adults, and she knew they were capable of it.

She was sitting on the couch, in her living room, contemplating how to approach the subject. She didn't want to fight again, and she knew Elliot didn't want to fight either. She decided to just get it out in the open, and go from there. If things got heated, they could stop, take a breath, and then revisit the topic.

Elliot was in the shower, getting ready for the day. As soon as she heard the shower shut off, she braced herself for the conversation.

It took Elliot five minutes to get dressed, and he came out into the living room and sat on the couch with Olivia.

"So what do you want to do today, baby?" Elliot asked.

"Well… I was kind of hoping to talk to you about this whole moving in together thing. Now I'm not saying that I have changed my mind, but it's hanging in the air. I feel like it would be better if we talked it out like two rational, grown adults, and not argue about it. I would like you to hear my side of things, and I want to hear your side of everything."

Olivia was nervous about his reaction. While Elliot had become more rational and not as quick to get angry, he still had his moments. She knew he wouldn't blow up, but was more worried he wouldn't want to touch the subject.

"If that's what you want to do, then I am more than willing to do that."

"I think that if we both listened to each other's sides, no interruptions, then we can deal with it." Olivia reasoned.

"Ok, do you want me to go first, or would you like to?" Elliot asked.

"I will."

"Ok, go ahead, and I promise, I will wait until you are done to talk."

"Elliot, you know I love you. You are the one person that I have ever let myself wholly and truly love. But I still have this fear that you are going to up and leave me again. The rational part of my brain knows you won't, but there is this tiny nagging spot in the back that keeps saying he did it once before, what's to stop him from doing it again when he gets bored with you. You had your reasons for leaving the first time. I understand and respect them as much as I don't like the fact that you actually left. I know you love me. I see it in everything you do and it warms my heart. But you also loved Kathy. I know that isn't a fair comparison, but part of me thinks that you will find someone better. God, knows you deserve better than me. Plus this relationship is fairly new still. What if I move in with you and things don't work out. Then what? I am all alone with no place to live. As much as I know that you love me, and I love you; I still have this fear."

By the end of her side of it, Olivia had tears running down her cheeks. She didn't even realize that she was crying until Elliot reached over and wiped the tears away. His eyes were also teary, but his had remained unshed.

"I…" Elliot took a moment to gather himself before trying to speak again. "I am so sorry that I did this to you Liv. I wanted you to be able to trust me, and you did. Then I go a throw it all out the window like it was nothing."

He hated that he had made her insecure, that she couldn't trust him. He felt like he needed to show this raw emotion that he was feeling.

"When you said that I could do better and deserve better than you… Olivia there is no one better than you. If anything, you are the one that's settling in this relationship. I could never get bored with you. Don't you see, you are it for me. I don't want anyone else. If this doesn't work out, then it's not going to work out with anyone else. We can have knockdown, drag out fights, but we always make up. We have both run from the other, but somehow we always end up back together. My favorite part of staying the night with you isn't the sex, although that's great. My favorite part is falling asleep with you in my arms and waking up with you in my arms. I don't want to go another night without it. Plus we are always together anyways. I just figured that if we were actually coming home to each other, no matter what happens during the day, we would be together. I know your work schedule gets hectic and you aren't always home. You know I know that, but if we moved in together then you would never be coming home to an empty apartment. I would move in here if it made you feel better, but you only have one room."

Elliot moved her so much. He allowed himself to be open with her. She could see the sincerity in his eyes the entire time he spoke. She knew what her decision was.

"Elliot, I will move in with you." She stated, nervous, but utterly confident in her decision.

"You… you will?" Elliot was genuinely surprised. He wasn't trying to change her mind. He just wanted her to know what he truly felt, no holds bar.

"Yeah, I think we both need to move forward with this relationship, and this is the next logical step. You showed me how much you cared, and the thought that went into this decision." She curled up next to him, needing the contact.

"I am so sorry I didn't take the time to hear you out, and just flat out rejected. I am so sorry it turned into a big argument. It never should have happened, but I was being bull headed." She truly was sorry.

"If it would make you feel a little bit better, you can keep the lease on your apartment and we could sublet it for extra money. That way until you feel comfortable enough, you don't have to worry." He wanted her to be completely comfortable.

"Thank you so much El." She hugged him tight, never wanting to let him go.

"Anything for you, I mean it. Anything."


	9. The Heart-stopper

Elliot and Olivia had been living together for two months now. Everything was going great, and Olivia was glad that she decided to move in with Elliot.

Even at work, everyone could tell that Olivia had never been happier. They all knew it had to do with Elliot and their relationship.

Even Fin was coming around to Elliot being around again. After the initial meeting Nick and Amanda warmed up to Elliot pretty fast. Olivia was glad that Elliot could get along with everyone. Elliot had warned Nick to make sure nothing happened to her, and Nick made the same threat to Elliot.

Occasionally, Elliot would stop by the precinct and have lunch with Liv or pick her up for a date. Everyone could see that these two were going to be together forever.

Olivia was sitting at her desk when her cell rang.

**(LINE BREAK)**

Elliot was in a little convenient store a few blocks away from the precinct. He wanted to surprise Olivia with roses and Chinese food. He knew how much she loved it when he showed up to the precinct and had lunch with her. It gave her a break from what they see in the cases.

Elliot had just found the perfect bouquet of flowers when a guy came in with gun. He was demanding that everyone get down on the floor and give him all the money and valuables they had. The robber also demanded that the cashier open the register and empty it of all the money inside.

The guy was wearing a mask, but you could see that he was white, about 6'2", and average build. He was wearing a blue polo, with a black lightweight jacket, and dark wash jeans.

Elliot's cop mode kicked in, even though he hadn't been on the force in over 3 years. He immediately tried to diffuse the situation.

"Listen, no one needs to get hurt here. If you leave now then we won't call the cops and you can just leave." Elliot tried to convince the guy.

"Do you seriously think I will fall for that line of shit? I know that whether I get what I want or not, the cops are getting called. Might as well make it worth my while."

The guy fired a warning shot into the ceiling. The patrons in the store screamed and shrieked with fear.

Elliot stepped towards the man, thinking that maybe he could calm the guy down a bit.

"Don't take another step, if you do then you're dead." The gunman was now holding his gun towards Elliot, and his hand was shaking.

Elliot stopped dead in his tracks. Honestly he was getting frightened. Normally when he was in these types of situations he had a gun, and Olivia was next to him.

"Ok, let's not make any rash decisions. Let's put the gun down and just talk this out. If anyone gets hurt then I can't help. I can help you, if you just put the gun down." Elliot was really trying to reason with this guy. He didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"Give me all your money." The gunman shouted at Elliot waving his gun at him.

Elliot grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out all his cash and held it out for the man. The man grabbed it, and he turned to walk out the door.

"Oh and one more thing. It's good to see you again Detective Stabler."

Then three shots rang out.

**(LINE BREAK)**

Olivia looked at her ringing phone, and didn't recognize the number calling her.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is the Olivia Benson?" At this Olivia was a bit suspicious as to who was calling.

"Yes, it is. May I ask who is calling?"

"I'm the triage nurse at Mercy General, and we just had a patient come into the emergency room. Name is Elliot Stabler, and you are his emergency contact." Olivia stopped breathing. She had so many thoughts running through her head. What happened? Why was he in the emergency room? How bad were his injuries? Was he going to make it?

That last one brought tears to her eyes. She couldn't lose him, she just got him like she wanted him for years. They were finally together and happy.

She was brought back to reality by the nurse speaking.

"He was brought in with three gunshot wounds, two to his abdomen and one to the chest. We need to do surgery, and you are his medical proxy."

"Go ahead with the surgery, and I will be right there to fill out all the necessary paperwork." Olivia said and hung up.

She quickly rushed into Cragen's office.

"Cap, I gotta go. There was some sort of incident and Elliot was shot three times. I need to get the Mercy General and fill out paperwork and wait for the surgeon." She was speaking a million miles a minute, trying to get it all out and get to the hospital.

Cragen shot out of his seat and grabbed his coat. She looked at him inquisitively.

"I'm driving you. You are in no shape to be driving, and you shouldn't wait alone. Plus he's like a son to me and I'll be damned if I just sit here while he's in surgery." He stuck his head out the door, and yelled, "Munch you are in charge for the next few hours, I will call you and let you know what's going on soon, but Liv and I are going down to Mercy General."

They took off towards the hospital, praying that everything was going to be ok.

**(Line Break)**

Once they got to the hospital, Cragen let Olivia out at the front doors while he went to go park the car. She ran as fast as she could into the hospital, and to the front desk.

"I'm Olivia Benson, I was called about Elliot Stabler." Olivia told the nurse frantically.

Cragen came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, there is a doctor that is waiting to talk to you." The nurse pointed towards the man.

"I'm Olivia Benson, here for Elliot Stabler."

"Well, Miss Benson, …."


	10. The Kidney

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, they belong to Dick Wolf, but I'm considering taking them away from him, because he doesn't know how to treat them nicely.

"Miss Benson, Mr. Stabler needs major surgery. The hole in his chest missed everything vital, and we can repair that fairly simply. The shots to his abdomen though, aren't going to be as easy." At this Olivia gasped, trying not to break down again.

"One bullet went straight through his kidney, rendering it useless. The other bullet is still lodged in his abdomen, but the shrapnel from the shot got his other kidney, it's no good either. We need to get him a donor. I noticed on his chart that he has children. Do you think you could contact them, and we can see if they are a match? His blood type is A…"

"Positive. I know, I have the same blood type, just take my kidney." She thought about that conversation long ago.

_It was their first case together after she returned from Oregon. Things had been tense between them, but when they wrapped up the case and were leaving the hospital, they had a breakthrough moment to start piecing their relationship back together._

"_You know, we've been partners all these years and I don't even know your blood type." Olivia had stated, honestly curious, just in case she needed to know it for some reason. They had been waiting for the elevator to come so they could leave the hospital._

"_A-positive." Elliot responded, nonchalantly._

"_How about that, me too." At this Elliot looked over at her, for a moment deep in thought. Like he was trying to figure out how he wanted to word what he was going to say next._

_They stepped onto the elevator. "I'd give you a kidney." He said like he was telling her he would buy the coffee. _

"_Not if I gave you mine first." With that they elevator doors closed, and the subject was never brought up again._

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The doctor questioned, and Cragen who had been standing with her the entire time had a similar look on his face.

"I'm absolutely sure. Give him my kidney. Give me all the necessary paperwork so we can get this going." Olivia responded to the doctor. She turned toward Cragen.

"I'm obviously going to need time off. I know I have plenty of vacation. I need for you to take my phone and call Elliot's kids and Kathy, let them know what's going on. I would do it myself, but obviously we need to get this process going."

With that Olivia handed him her phone so he could call people. She started on all the paperwork so they could take her back to prep for surgery.

"Take all the time you need Olivia. I'll go start calling people. I'll wait for you to get out of surgery."

Then Olivia was gone.

Four hours later, Cragen was still sitting in the waiting room. He had called Kathy, Elliot's kids, and the squad to let them know what was going on.

Kathy had told Cragen to let her know when they were both out of surgery. The kids said they would be there as soon as they could be. The squad wanted to be there now, but they had cases to solve and Cragen told them that he would keep them updated as soon as he heard anything.

Just when Cragen was getting frustrated, a surgeon came out of the OR. It was a different surgeon than the one that he and Olivia had talked to when they arrived.

"Family of Olivia Benson?" the surgeon said.

"That's me, I'm her captain. How is she?" Cragen questioned.

He had been extremely worried. The two people he was closest to that had been on his squad were both in surgery, one was on the brink of death and the other was trying to save him.

"The surgery went smoothly, we got her kidney out without any complications. She is now in the ICU, recovering. She will probably be in there for an hour and half just to make sure everything is ok, and then we will get her into a room." Cragen breathed, and then figured he should ask, in case the surgeon knew anything.

"And do you know how Elliot Stabler is?"

"As soon as the kidney was out, they were rushing it to Mr. Stabler. That's all I know, you will have to wait for his surgeon. I know that he is still in surgery. I will say, he is very lucky that he has survived this far, he has lost a lot of blood, but hopefully all will go well."

The surgeon left, and Cragen called Kathy to let her know that Olivia was out of surgery. He then called the squad and updated them on the situation.

Kathy showed up with Eli, about an hour after Cragen called her. They hugged and Kathy set next to the older man. Eli sat on the other side of Kathy.

"So, have you heard anything on either of them yet?" Kathy asked.

"Nothing yet, but I'm guessing that Elliot should be out of surgery anytime, and Olivia should be getting placed into a room here soon."

Suddenly four, very frantic, young adults barged into the waiting room. They were looking around for people. One of them spotted Cragen and they speed walked over to him.

All four of them were asking questions, and it was getting to be a loud mess. Cragen wasn't getting a word in, so he lifted his hand telling them to stop.

"One question at a time please." He was getting overwhelmed.

"How are they?" Lizzie asked, saying what was on everyone else's mind.

"Olivia should be getting out of recovery any time now, your father as far as I know is still in surgery." Cragen answered.

"Do you know what happened?" Dickie inquired.

"All I know is that Olivia got a phone call saying that you father was brought into the ER, and that he needed surgery. When we got here, there was a surgeon waiting for us, saying that he was shot three times. Once in the chest, but it missed everything important, and twice in the abdomen. Those shot caused both of his kidneys to be non-functioning. The surgeon told Olivia to call one of you kids and see if you were a match in blood type, but Olivia insisted that she give him a kidney since they had the same blood type and she was already here." Cragen went on to explain the rest of the situation. He answered any other questions that he could answer and it all became a waiting game.

They had just gotten settled down when the surgeon that Cragen had met when he first showed up to the hospital came out of the OR.

"Are all of you here for Elliot Stabler?"

"Yes, we are. How is he? Will he be ok?" Maureen questioned.

"We were able to fix his chest with no issues, kidney removal and transplant was the long process. We got the bullet out that was lodged in his chest, and the kidney into the place it should be and functioning. He is going to be in here for a few weeks, but after that he should be good to go. He is extremely lucky, if the bullets had hit anywhere else or we wouldn't have gotten that kidney when we did, he wouldn't have made it. They are just finishing up now, and he should be moved into recovery within the next fifteen or so minutes." The surgeon explained.

"And Olivia Benson, how is she recovering?" This time it was Kathy that had asked.

"I checked on her on my way out here, and they were just getting ready to move her to a room. She should be able to have visitors as soon as she wakes up. Now she probably won't wake up until morning. We have her on pretty heavy pain medication. If you would like to wait and see how Mr. Stabler does in recovery, then go right ahead." With that the surgeon left.

"Well I'm going to go call the squad and let them know what's going on." Don stated getting ready to go make the call.

"Don, why don't you go to the precinct and let them know. You have been here for hours, and you look exhausted. I don't think any of us are going to be leaving anytime soon. Go let them know what's going on in person and get some shut eye." Kathy suggested.

"I think I will take you up on that offer. Thank you."

Don gave each of the kids a hug and left. Now it was just a waiting game.


	11. The Relief

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I treat them how they deserve to be treated… most of the time.

Olivia had been moved to a room. She had woken up once and asked for Elliot, but didn't stay conscious long enough to get any answers.

Kathy and the kids had been told that Elliot was recovering well, and would hopefully be moved into Olivia's room within the next few hours. They had sighed in relief.

A few hours later Olivia woke up. She took in her surroundings and was trying to remember what happened. Suddenly, it all came flooding back to her. Elliot being shot, needing a kidney, giving it to him. She didn't know if he had survived the surgery. If he hadn't she knew there was no way she could go on without him.

Luckily, before she got too far with her thought, the door to her room opened. In came two nurses wheeling Elliot with them. He was hooked up to all kinds of equipment, but he was alive and that's all Olivia cared about for the moment. She looked at what all he was attached to. He had a tube down his throat to help him breathe, IVs, heart monitor, blood pressure, and oxygen monitor, and other machines that she weren't sure what they were for.

The nurses looked over at Olivia and saw her watching them.

"Oh, Miss Benson. Good to see you're awake; let me go get the doctor." With that they walked out.

A few minutes later the doctor walked into the room.

"Glad you're awake Olivia."

"How is he?" she asked, nodding towards Elliot.

"Well, he seems to be recovering quite nicely, thanks to you for giving him your kidney. Now we don't expect him to wake up until sometime tomorrow."

Olivia listened to him and nodded.

"You have some visitors who have been waiting for you to wake up. Are you feeling up to it?"

Olivia nodded her head, thinking it was the guys. To say she was shocked when Kathy and the kids walked in was an understatement.

"How are you feeling, Liv?" Lizzie took the initiative to start the conversation.

"Better knowing that he will be ok." Olivia responded.

Olivia felt a tugging on her sleeve and looked down. Eli was trying to get her attention.

"Livie, is it ok if I sit with you?" He asked in his little voice.

He wanted to be next to her. Ever since she moved in with Elliot, they had become really close.

"Eli, I don't-" Kathy started, but was interrupted by Liv.

"Its fine Kathy, if you don't mind that is."

Olivia didn't want to encroach on any territory that would cause trouble.

"No, no. It's fine, just didn't know if you were feeling up to it." Kathy smiled at Olivia showing that there were no hard feelings.

Dickie helped Eli up on the bed being careful of Olivia wound. Eli sat right next to Olivia and leans his head onto Olivia. She wraps her arm around the young boy. She looks over to Elliot, wishing he were awake and aware of what was happening.

Everyone just stood or sat there awkwardly, not sure what to say. Finally, not being able to take the silence anymore, a voice spoke up.

"Liv, I know I speak for all of us when I say thank you for what you did for dad." Kathleen said, everyone agreeing with her.

"It's ok guys, honestly. I knew he needed it and I knew we matched blood types. No use in wasting time testing you guys when I was here and willing already. Besides I love your father and would do anything for him or one of you kids." She said, "Just don't need a kidney, I'm only down to one." Olivia joked, trying to lighten the mood in the room.

Everyone chuckled, even a very muffled, yet unexpected one from the other half of the room. Suddenly, everyone's heads snapped over to where Elliot laid awake.

"Dad!"

"Elliot!"

Everyone cried at the same time. Everyone rushed over to his bed. Even Olivia tried to get up, only to be stopped by the looks she was getting from everyone.

They pressed the call nurse button, and a nurse rushed in. She saw Elliot was awake and smiled.

"Well, well, well Mr. Stabler. You are awake earlier than we expected. I'll get a doctor right away to see if we can't get that tube out of your throat."

Elliot just nodded, since that was all he could really do.

The kids all hugged him, telling him they were all so happy he was going to be ok.

Just then the doctor came in and double checked Elliot's vitals.

"Well Mr. Stabler, I think we can remove the tube."

After the tube was removed, Lizzie poured Elliot a glass of water. She proceeded to give him a drink hoping to help with the coughing fit he was having.

"Now I'm going to leave you to your visitors. I will be back to explain the extent of your injuries later." Then the doctor left.

"What happened?" he looked around, "Liv why are you in a hospital bed?" he asked, his voice still raspy from the tube.

Liv didn't know which question to answer first, so she figured it would be easiest to start with the first question.

"Well El, I don't know all the details. I was hoping you could tell me that. What I do know is that you were at the bodega down the block from the precinct and you were shot. I got a phone call from the hospital saying informing me that you had been shot. When I got here they told me that you needed a kidney, so I gave you one." Olivia explained to him.

Elliot took a moment and it looked like he was processing what she just told him.

"It looks like you got to give me yours first." He recalled the same conversation that she had remembered just before her surgery.

Kathy and the kids all looked confused as the pair attempted to chuckle at the inside joke; only to be met with pain.

"Well, we better get going and let the both of you rest. We'll come see you guys tomorrow." Kathy stated.

Everyone agreed, and hugged both Elliot and Olivia as they said their goodbyes.

After everyone left, Olivia attempted to get out of her bed, but couldn't at first. A few failed attempts later, she decided to give it one more go.

Luck was on her side, and she finally, but slowly got to her feet.

She carted the machines over to Elliot's bed, still in a lot of pain.

Realizing what she was doing Elliot slowly and carefully scooted over, making room for her. She eased into his bed and wrapped her arms around him, minding both of their wounds. She inhaled his scent and took in the moment.

Elliot felt a dampness on his hospital gown and understood that she was crying.

"Liv, baby, what's wrong? Are you in pain? I can call the nurse in." he asked softly.

Olivia shook her head as she continued to sob.

"No, you're not in pain, or no, you don't want me to call a nurse?"

She tapped once on his back to signify that it wasn't the pain.

"What's wrong then honey? I can't make it better if you don't talk to me." Elliot cooed

"I…. I almost lo-lost you today." She wretched out.

Crying hurt, but she couldn't control it.

"Liv, I'm here. I will be ok, babe, you need to calm down. If your heart rate gets any faster it's going to bring the nurses in." Elliot informed her gently.

Olivia nodded, and tightened her grip on him. She was attempting to calm down while Elliot rubbed circles on her upper back and murmured sweet things in her ear.

They fell asleep holding each other, making sure nothing would tear them apart. That's how the nurses found them, and no one had the heart to wake them up.

A/N: I don't know a whole lot about things medical wise, and I realize that Olivia being able to get up and walk wouldn't be happening, but I took some creative liberties on that one. Leave a review and tell me what you think


	12. The Pain

One week later Olivia was discharged, being told she couldn't return to work for at least another two weeks. Elliot on the other hand was still stuck in the hospital for at least a couple more days.

Not being able to go to work, Olivia spent all her time sitting in Elliot's room.

"No Elliot, I will not bust you out of here! You should be able to leave tomorrow, if you behave." Olivia argued with him again.

Ever since they had both been able to move, Elliot had been trying to convince Olivia to sneak them out. Olivia argued every time. As much as she hated hospitals, she wanted him to be cleared before he left.

"But Liv, I'm all better. One more day isn't going to matter" Elliot whined.

"Quit arguing with me, otherwise I will give you a reason to need that bed longer" she threatened.

Elliot loved when Olivia got bossy, and if he were honest, he was getting turned on. He needed to stop since neither of them could to anything for a while.

He decided to think about Munch in a speedo, and that did the trick.

The next day, Olivia drove Elliot back to their apartment. They were supposed to have someone watching over the both of them, but Olivia thought that she could do it herself. The doctor didn't know that though.

"I thought you said that one of the kids was going to be here." Elliot questioned slightly.

"Did I? Oops. I meant that I would be taking care of you. Silly mistake really." Olivia tried to play it off.

"Liv, you just had surgery too. You should also be resting." He didn't want Olivia overdoing herself like she tended to

"El, I swear I'm fine. I'm barely feeling any pain" she lied.

She was feeling a lot of pain, but it couldn't be more pain than Elliot was in, so she just passed it off. She just wanted to spend some time alone with him, and she didn't want to be babied.

"Okaaaayyyyyy," Elliot replied skeptically. "but if it becomes too much for you, let me know and we can call one of the kids."

"I will," she lied again.

Part of her felt bad for lying to him, but she didn't feel bad enough to call anyone.

"I'm going to go lay down for a bit. This medicine is making me sleepy." Elliot smiled. Olivia grinned back.

He slowly made his way towards the bedroom. Once he was in their bedroom, Olivia dropped to the couch. She landed wrong, but avoided yelling out. She knew if she did, Elliot would come back out and insist someone come over.

While he was laying down, Olivia decided to clean the apartment a bit. It wasn't extremely dirty, but it did need a bit of tidying.

She picked up the clothes that had been lying around, and did the dishes she neglected before this entire ordeal happened. She cleaned the guest bathroom, and the she decided to start dinner.

It had been a while since either of them had had a home cooked meal. She decided to make chicken stir-fry with rice.

Just when she was finishing up, Elliot came out of the bedroom. He was shirtless since it was easier than trying to put on a shirt with his wounds and bandages.

"Mm… smells good. What are you making?" Elliot asked.

"Chicken stir-fry. I figured it had been a while since we had a home cooked meal. Plus we needed to use the stuff in the freezer," she told him while plating the food.

Elliot noticed the apartment was cleaner than when they first arrived home.

"Liv, what all did you do while I was sleeping?" El questioned.

"Oh, just a little cleaning. Nothing much really." Olivia lied once again.

Her back was killing her, but she wasn't going to admit that. She could look after herself.

"Olivia, I don't want you doing too much. You are still recovering too." Elliot chided.

"Elliot, I'm not made of glass, I'll be fine." Olivia gritted.

She was getting frustrated with him. She wanted him to drop it, and quit talking about it.

See that she was getting angry, Elliot decided to let it go, for now. They made idle chat while eating dinner.

"That was really good Liv." Elliot told her after they had finished.

"Thanks El," she said with a smile.

Elliot went to get up and help clean, but when he moved he seethed in pain.

"Here, take your pain pills and go lay in bed. I'll clean this up."

"No Liv, you've already cleaned enough today, leave it." Elliot said.

"It's fine El, I'm not just going to leave it. Now go lay down." Olivia insisted.

Looking skeptical, Elliot reluctantly went. He wanted the pain to stop.

After he went into the other room, she did the dishes and put them away. Towards the end she was in a lot of pain. It was almost becoming unbearable, but Olivia decided that she would push through it. Once she finished she walked slowly to the bedroom and saw El passed out.

She changed into one of Elliot's shirts, and decided putting on pants would cause too much agony.

She slowly crawled into the bed, laid on her good side, and fell asleep with tears rolling down her cheeks.

When Olivia woke up the next morning, she was in a lot of pain and could hardly move.

Elliot was still asleep and she was thankful. If he saw the pain, he would make her call someone, or even worse, go to the hospital.

Olivia slowly got up and made her way to the bathroom. She took off her clothes and got into the shower. Unfortunately the shower or moving didn't make her back feel better.

Ten minutes after she got out of the shower, Elliot woke up. Unlike Liv, he wasn't nearly as sore and could move a bit better than the previous day.

He saw Liv in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Elliot came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

It look everything she had not to show that she was in pain.

"I'm feeling fine," she lied through her teeth. "Now breakfast is almost ready, so go sit on the couch and I will bring it over."

He grabbed the coffee she had prepared for him, and walked over to the couch.

Olivia walked behind him with the plates in her hand. She sat on the couch next to Elliot and set the plates down.

Elliot looked over to thank her, but noticed something was off. Her normally olive complexion was a lot paler than normal.

Just as he was about to say something, she fainted.


	13. The Recovery

Chapter 13: The Recovery

Olivia awoke to beeping noises and the inability to move her right arm. It took her a moment to gather her surrounding, but she quickly realized she was in the hospital. She slowly turned her head to see why she couldn't move her right arm.

The sight she saw made her heart melt and at the same time cringe.

Elliot sleeping in the chair next to her bed, but was leaning over the best he could. His head was on her arm, and she knew he wasn't comfortable.

She moved her left hand through his hair in hopes of waking him up. Elliot mumbled something unintelligible and cuddled with her arm more, but didn't wake up. She ran her hand through his hair again, but also gently yet firmly said his name.

This time Elliot woke up with a yawn and looked at Liv. Seeing that she was awake and looking at him filled him with joy.

"How are you feeling?" Elliot inquired.

"Okay, but a bit confused. What happened?" she questioned.

"You sat down on the couch to have breakfast, I looked over and you fainted." Elliot responded, and then pressed the call button.

Soon, a CNA appeared in the room. As soon as he noticed that Olivia was awake, he went to go get a doctor.

A few minutes later, the doctor was knocking on the door.

"Miss Benson, nice to see you up and alert. Now your test results show you have a minor infection from the surgery. Elliot also told me that you haven't been following my suggestion to take it easy and resting."

Upon hearing this, Liv shot Elliot a death glare. El could feel the anger in the look she was giving him and he knew he would get his ass chewed out later. The doctor continued his little speech.

"Now it's no longer a suggestion. You need to rest, otherwise this infection will get worse and you will spend more time here. Now I'm prescribing you an antibiotic to help fight the infection. You can take that along with your pain medication."

Olivia was not happy about having to take more medication, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get Elliot, or anyone else for that matter, to let her out of taking it. Once again the doctor started speaking.

"I want you BOTH back here in two weeks for check-ups, to see how you're healing. You can make your appointments at the front desk. Olivia, I will get your discharge paperwork ready."

He proceeded to hand Olivia's prescription to Elliot for safe keeping and went on his way.

Elliot attempted to help Olivia get changed, but she quickly pulled away from his touch. He knew she was still pissed off at him. While he was just trying to help her, he also understood her anger. If he was in the same situation, he would feel just like she was feeling.

They arrived at the apartment a short time later, after having picked up her antibiotics. They still hadn't said much to each other. Olivia understood why he told the doctor, but it didn't mean she was happy about it.

Elliot parked the car as close as he could to the building for both of their sakes, and they slowly made their way to the apartment. Once they entered the apartment, Olivia sat on the couch and Elliot went to the kitchen to get both of their medication. He walked back over with the pills and two glasses of water for both of them.

Elliot set one of the glasses of water in front of Olivia and then proceeded to hand her the pills she needed to take. He took his pills and waited for Olivia to do the same.

Olivia, sensing El wasn't going to stop staring as her until she did, begrudgingly took her meds. They continued to sit in silence for a few minutes and it was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Normally it didn't bother them to sit in silence, but usually when they did it, it wasn't because one was mad as the other.

Finally Olivia moved so she was sitting with her back against the arms of the couch, facing Elliot with her legs crisscrossed in front of her. Elliot notices the change in her position and mimicked it.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier. I know you were just trying to help." Olivia spoke up.

"I get it, honestly I probably would have reacted the same way. I was terrified when you passed out like that. I had no idea what was wrong, so when the doctor asked I just told him the truth." El explained with his emotions showing in his voice.

Olivia thought over what he was saying. She knew she should have been taking care of herself. If not for her own sake, then for Elliot's.

"I promise, I will follow the doctor's orders from here one out. In matter of fact I'm getting sleepy. I think I'm going to go lay down for a while." She stated slowly getting up from the couch.

"You know what, I think I will join you. My medication will probably be kicking in soon." While that was partly the reason, a bigger reason was because he wanted to hold her in his arms.

He shot Maureen a quick text telling her they were going to lay down, and to use her key to let herself in when she got there.

As soon as he got into bet he wrapped his arm around her, grateful that they were still able to be with each other.

It had been 6 weeks since the fainting incident, and both Elliot and Olivia were healing nicely.

The older kids had been great about being with them so they could heal. Plus it was just nice to be with them since everyone's schedules were usually so busy. Kathy had been letting Eli spend his designated weekends and even more time with Elliot and Olivia.

Olivia was talking to Cragen about coming back to work. He wanted her to completely heal before she came back. While on the phone he made a mention that both he and Munch were getting up there in age, and soon they were going to need someone to fill in.

"Olivia, if anyone knows Special Victims and deserves the position, it's you." Cragen told her flat out. "Please think about it, there's a Sergeant's exam coming up in a few months."

"Well Cap, today's Thursday. I will give you an answer by Sunday night." Olivia responded, honestly more shocked than she should have been.

Elliot walked into the bedroom just as she got off the phone, and saw the look on her face.

"Cragen just told me that he wants me to take the Sergeant's exam. So I can eventually run the squad." Do you think I should do it?" Olivia questioned.

"Honestly, I've never thought about it. I'm content where I am, but I wouldn't mind better hours. Also it would mean less field work, and we both know I'm not as young as I use to be." Olivia smirked.

"And yet, you can still keep up with the young ones," he smirked back, "I think if you are interested you should give it a shot."

"I told Cap I would give him an answer by Sunday night." Olivia told him.

"Well then take the next few days to think about it. It's Eli's weekend here and I have plans for us."

The next day Eli came over for his weekend with dad and Olivia.

"So Eli, what do you want to do tonight?" Olivia asked.

"Can we have a movie night?" Eli questioned excitedly.

"Does that sound good to you El?" she asked Elliot who was standing next to her.

"Fine with me, Liv." Eli getting the approval he was looking for cheered and ran off to his room.

Both adults were happy to see him excited.

"You know you don't have to ask to do stuff Liv. You can make decisions too." Elliot informed her.

"I don't want to do anything you wouldn't approve of. You're his father," she shrugs.

"And you're basically his stepmother. I trust your decision making Liv." He noticed her head, which had previously been looking down, snap up to look at him when he said stepmother.

It was only 11 a.m. and it was a beautiful summer day. So before they did their movie night, they spent the day with each other. The 3 of them went to the park, and did a little shopping. They even had lunch at the diner that Elliot and Olivia use to go to when they had late nights and early mornings as partners.

Olivia cooked spaghetti for her and the guys. Elliot teased her about her cooking, even though he truly loved it. Honestly, he just loved riling her up; he found it adorable.

Later that night, Olivia was sitting on one end of the couch while Eliot was on the other end and Eli had snuggled in between them. Liv was going over the events of the day in her head. She had so much fun with El and Eli. It was then and there she had made and important decision.

Elliot and Olivia were cuddling in their bed after the amazing sex they just had, Olivia turned so she was looking into Elliot's eyes.

"So I made a decision." Olivia spoke, feeling the need to tell him right at that moment.

"Go on," he encouraged while stroking her arm to comfort her.

"I'm going to take the Sergeant's exam. After the day we had today, it reminded me that the job isn't the only thing I have anymore. While I'm not quite ready to give it up completely, but I'm ready to take a step back. I know I will have more responsibility, but things like paperwork I can bring back here with me. Plus it's not like if I pass I will suddenly take over the squad."

"Honey, I am so proud of you. Did you think when we first became partners all those years ago that you would end up here? Taking the Sergeant's exam, and lying here in bed naked with me," he teased.

"Well I had hoped for one of those things a lot during out partnership El," she replied sexily.

"Oh," he replied with pretend shock "and just which one is that Miss Benson?" he asked with a wink.

"Why the Sergeant's exam of course," she jokes trying to hold in a laugh at the look on his face.

"Well then, why don't I just go sleep on the couch," he pretended like he was going to get up.

She threw her arms around him and squeezed tightly, as if telling him he wasn't going anywhere without her.

"You know I was just kidding El. Let me make it up to you," she said in a low sexy tone.

She slid down his body, kissing and nibbling at his skin on her way down. When she got to his cock, it was hard and waiting for her.

"Mm looks like someone is eager and ready to have my mouth on them."

She flicked the slit on the tip and took him into her mouth. She sucked on the head, while her hand worked the shaft. Slowly she took him into her mouth more.

He moaned as the wet heat of her mouth enveloped his aching length. This encouraged her to take as much of him into her mouth and throat as possible. He was propped up on his elbows, watching her do her thing.

"Fuck, Liv. That's so hot, and it feels so fucking good," he moaned.

She started playing with his balls, and it took everything in him not to buck his hips. He didn't want to choke her.

He was so close but he didn't want to cum in her mouth.

"Stop," he grunted out.

Olivia was extremely confused, but stopped what she was doing. He flipped her onto her back.

"I wanna be inside you when I cum, but first," he went down to her pussy and ran a finger through her folds, and shuddered at how wet she was.

When he did that she moaned which egged his on. He used his fingers to spread her pussy open. He ran his tongue over her pussy and then teased her clit.

He inserted two fingers into her and slowly thrusted them in and out of her pussy. Then he buried them into her as far as he could and made a come hither motion, while licking and sucking at her clit.

He felt her getting close and suddenly stopped everything.

"What the hell, Elliot?" Olivia panted.

"I told you, I wanna be inside you," he said cockily "Now, how about you get on your hands and knees."

His voice told her it was more a command than a suggestion. She loves it when he gets in this mood. She did as told, and he entered her swiftly from behind.

They both moaned as pleasure coursed through their bodies.

This was one of his favorite positions because the way it felt and gave him a wonderful view of her glorious ass. He as a self-proclaimed ass man, but only when it came to Liv's ass.

Her moans matched his grunts and thrusts. He was close but wanted her to cum first, so he did something that was sure to get her there. He lifted his hand and brought it down on her bare, sweaty ass.

"Fuck El!" she yelped, and he did it again. "I'm cumming!" she moaned.

When he felt her clamp around his hard throbbing cock, he couldn't hold on any longer. He came inside her.

"So did I make it up to you?" she asked after her breathing returned to normal.

"A million times over. You know you didn't actually have to do that right. I was just teasing."

"I know, but I wanted to do it." Olivia shrugged, and then curled farther into his side, and closed her eyes to yawn.

Feeling tired himself, he told her, "Let's go to sleep. I love you so much baby," he yawned "G'night."

He pulled her into his side tightly.

"Mm… good night El. I love you too."

And they both fell asleep.


	14. The Case

Author's Note (Please Read): So there is going to be a bit of a time jump, about 3 ½ months. Elliot and Olivia have been dating for a year, she has taken the Sergeant's Exam and passed with flying colors, and is in the process of taking over for Cragen.

Line Break…

Olivia walked through the door at about 10 p.m., exhausted. She never realized how much Cragen had to deal with. While she was in the field a lot less; dealing with reporters, One PP, Chief of D's, her detective's attitudes, and all the cases was mentally taxing. Not to mention that because she was training for the job, they were down a detective. Munch wasn't doing much field work besides interviews on rare occasion, and did more computer searches than anything else.

Elliot was sitting up on their couch, watching some show that she thought was ridiculous. When he heard the door open, he looked at her and smiled. He got up off of the couch and walked over to her, pulling her into a hug. She relaxed in his embrace, and hugged him back tightly. This had become the norm for them. If he was still awake when she got home, he would hug her as soon as she walked through the door.

He then helped her take off her coat, and belt with her badge and gun. There was nothing sexual about it, he just enjoyed being with her. They had grown to enjoy the little things even more since the shooting. They know how precious life can be, and every day she came home to him was a blessing.

He took her by the hand and led her to the bedroom, making a quick stop to turn off the TV. Once inside the bedroom, they slowly helped each other undress and climbed into bed.

Olivia laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, while he ran his finger through her long brown locks. Soon Olivia was out like a light, and Elliot watched her sleep. She always looked so calm, and all of the stress and cares left her. Soon listening to the sound of her deep, even breathing lulled him to sleep.

Unfortunately the peaceful bliss didn't last as long as they would have liked. Around 2 a.m. Olivia's cell phone rang loudly into the dark silence of their bedroom.

"I thought that the middle of the night calls were supposed to stop when you got this promotion." Elliot groaned.

"I did too. And why are you complaining, it's not your ass that has to go out there." Olivia complained, and answered her phone. "Benson."

She listened to Cragen tell her what was going on and where she needed to meet the team. After she hung up, she groaned out loud and got out of bed. She was quickly getting dressed, and making herself look somewhat presentable.

"Case needs all hands on deck. So, I probably won't be home for a few days by the sounds of it." Olivia warned Elliot.

"Keep me up-to-date on what's going on with you, baby. Don't do anything stupid." Elliot pleaded.

"I will try to call you as often as I can; I gotta get going. I love you, babe." She gave him a peck on the lips and hurried out the door.

Line break….

Olivia had been working on this case for five days straight with little sleep and food, and a lot of caffeine. They still hadn't caught a break in the case. Just when they thought they had something, it turned out to be a dead end or the wrong person.

The case started out with a double rape homicide at Hudson University. It was quickly determined that there were two perps working together. Unfortunately they were smart enough not to leave any DNA, or usable trace evidence. They had canvased and talked to people who knew the two girls. It seemed that people either loved or hated them; there was no in between. Everyone who seemed to have an issue with these two ladies had a solid alibi.

The entire squad was getting on each other's nerves, and really just wanted to catch these guys. Olivia was finally going to get her chance to get out of the squad room for a little bit. Elliot was taking her out to lunch, and she was grateful. It was already 11:40 and Elliot was supposed to pick her up at noon.

Elliot walked into the bullpen at quarter till noon, and his face instantly lit up when he saw Olivia. It had been a long five days without her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and breathed her in.

"Hey, you're early." Olivia exclaimed and turned around in his arms, so she could hug him.

"Yeah, I know. I wanted to talk to Cap real quick. Is he in his office?" Elliot explained.

"Everything okay?" Liv questioned, he didn't usually chat with Cragen.

"Everything is fine, I promise. Now why don't you finish what you were doing before I interrupted, and we will got get lunch when I come back out."

Elliot walked over to Cragen's door and knocked, waiting for permission to enter the office. Upon hearing Cragen say come in, he opened the door and entered.

Cragen looked up and saw Elliot entering.

"Elliot, what can I do for you?" Cragen asked.

"Well, I would like for a favor from you. Quite a large one actually." Elliot stated.

Once he saw Cragen nod for him to go on, he continued.

"I know Olivia has used a lot of time, with recovering and all, and that she needs to finish her training with you, but I was wondering if after this case she could get a week off." Elliot said really fast, and without taking a breath.

"She hasn't asked for anytime off. Is everything alright?" Cragen asked concerned. Elliot nodded and then continued.

"Everything is fine, and she hasn't asked for time off, because she doesn't know yet. You see, I wanted to take her on vacation before she officially becomes acting commander. With everything that has happened over the last year, I think getting away and enjoying herself would be just what she needs."

"I agree with you, and I will get everything worked out so she can get time off. Lord knows that she has all the time saved up."

"That brings me to the next thing I want to talk to you about. You know that Olivia thinks of you as a father, and we have been together for a year now, and I really love her. I have for a long time."

Cragen put his hand up, and Elliot stopped talking. He was fidgeting nervously, hoping to get the answer he was looking for.

"I love that girl like she was my own daughter. I haven't seen her happier than I have over the last year, and that is thanks to you and your kids. So if you are asking me what I am pretty sure you are asking me, then you have my blessing."

Elliot let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He walked up to shake Cragen's hand, and Cragen pulled him into a fatherly hug.

"I also think of you as a son, and I am happy for you too." Cragen told him with a smile.

Elliot walked out of the office, and helped Liv put on her coat. They walked out of the precinct hand in hand and Cragen watched from his office with fatherly pride.

Line break…

They went to their favorite diner, and got a booth near the back for a little privacy.

"I have missed you so much. It's hard to sleep without holding you." Elliot complained a little, holding her hand across the table and rubbing her knuckles with his thumb.

"At least you are getting the opportunity to sleep, I am exhausted beyond belief," she shot back, "I just hope that we catch these freaks soon. I want to be done with this."

He was about to reply when their waitress brought their food to them. After thanking her, they went back to the conversation

"Aw baby, I know you guys will get them soon, all of you are good at what you do. Now eat up, I know you haven't gotten the chance to eat properly in a while."

Normally they would share their food, but Olivia was hungry. She ate her entire plate, and half of Elliot's fries. Elliot didn't mind, he had a feeling that was going to happen.

After they had finished and paid, Elliot walked her back to the 1-6. He rode the elevator up with her, and hugged and kissed her goodbye.

He was on his way home to plan and book what would hopefully be the best vacation he has ever taken.

Line break…

It took another two days, but thanks to an anonymous tip, they were able to get the guys. At first it took a while to get them to confess, but after they got one of the guys to confess, the other flipped like a pancake. Everyone was glad to be done with this case. When she finished her paperwork, she called Elliot to let him know she would be home in 20 minutes.

Olivia enter the apartment that night, wanting nothing more than to climb into bed with her man, cuddle up to him, and sleep.

When she walked into the apartment though, she was taken back by what she was seeing. There was a rose petal trail illuminated by tea light candles. She gasped, and followed the trail into the bedroom, where she was met by her wonderful boyfriend. He didn't say a word, just handed her an envelope.

She opened the envelope, and saw plane tickets and a resort reservation. She looked at the destination and saw that they were headed to the Bahamas. She looked at him utterly stunned.

"Bu-but, how, when, why?" She couldn't get a coherent thought together. Elliot laughed at her babbling and pulled her onto the bed and sat with her.

"Well, that's what I was talking to Cragen about. I asked him for a week off for you. When? We leave in two days. Why? Well because I love you, we have been together for a year, we never celebrated you making Sergeant, and about a million other reasons."

She couldn't say anything, so she just kissed him. He kissed her back with all the love in the world. He just hoped that she would still feel the same way when he surprised her once more while they were on this vacation.


	15. The Vacation

The next day around the Benson-Stabler apartment had been hectic. Since Elliot had obviously known about the trip, he was able to buy things and prepare here and there in advance. Olivia on the other hand was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to pack and get ready for her vacation.

Most of the outfits in her closet consisted of suits for work, and the occasional fancy dress. She did have a couple sundresses, but she also needed shorts and other essentials.

While she was out, Elliot took the opportunity to run to the closet that was never used, and grabbed the dress he bought for her. Admittedly he had to get some help from Elizabeth, because when he looked at the size of dresses in her closet they had all different numbers and letters, and he was befuddled. When his girls were growing up, Kathy did all the shopping for them.

He had talked to his kids about asking Olivia to marry him, making sure they were all fine with it. The older kids were all saying it was about time he asked her.

Eli was a little confused at first when Elliot was explaining it to him, but when Elliot explained that nothing was really changing except Olivia's last name, Eli was happy. He asked Elliot if he had to call Olivia mom also. Elliot explained to him that he didn't have to, but if he wanted to call her Momma Liv, that was okay. Elliot also told him that it was a secret, and he would tell him when it would be ok.

She had finally finished packing and getting ready around 11 o'clock that night. Their flight left at 8 the next morning, so they needed to be at the airport around 6 am. It was one of those nights where they were too excited to sleep. Well, Olivia was too excited. Elliot was a mixture of excitement and a bundle of nerves. They had stayed up talking about what they wanted to do while they were there. Olivia had mentioned wanting to swim with the dolphins. Elliot wanted to go jet skiing, and spend time on the beach.

They ended up staying awake all night, and were shocked when Olivia's alarm went off at 4:30. Elliot had arranged for a car to pick them up at five so they could be at the airport on time. They finished getting ready in time for the car company to call and inform El that they were downstairs waiting.

The couple got through the hustle and bustle of checking in and getting through airport security, and were now waiting to board the plane.

Olivia was a nervous flyer, while Elliot didn't mind flying. The only thing keeping Olivia distracted was that she was exhausted, since they failed to sleep the night before. Finally, they were able to board the plane, and got settled in. Their flight was almost four hours so they would be able to get a decent nap in before they landed.

Elliot woke up first, just before they were going to land. He took the moment to admire Olivia and how peaceful she looked. It was moments like this that he wanted to treasure forever, and just one of a million reasons he wanted to marry her.

The pilot came over the intercom and informed everyone that they were going to land. Elliot saw this as the opportunity to wake up Olivia. He leaned over and kissed her forehead first, then her nose, and finally her lips. She kissed him back with a smile.

"Well good morning sleepy head." Elliot joked.

Olivia playfully slapped his stomach, and Elliot feigned hurt.

"I plan this wonderful trip to the Bahamas and this is the thanks I get." He rolled his eyes. Olivia leaned over the arm rest and kissed him, chastely yet passionately.

"Thank you for this, baby. I know we are going to have a wonderful time." She kisses him again.

They exited the plane and collected their luggage from the baggage claim. When they walked out of the airport, they took a moment to revel in the heat and sun. It had been rainy and damp for the last week in New York, so this was a nice change. Elliot hailed a cab and gave the driver the name of the hotel that they were staying at.

They pulled up to the hotel about 15 minutes later. There was a gated fence at the entrance. Once they pulled in, Olivia saw that where they were staying was not a large hotel, but more like a bunch of bed and breakfast looking houses that made up a little community for tourists. She was already loving this vacation, but this just made things better. Even though she lived in the second largest city in the world, Olivia didn't really like crowds.

El and Liv entered the "hotel" that they were staying at. The downstairs was a community living room where people could mix and mingle, there was also the dining room where everyone could have a meal. After they checked in, they went to their room. All the rooms were on the second floor, so they went up and found their room.

Upon entering the couple gasped. It was more beautiful than Olivia could have imagined, and Elliot thought the pictures online didn't do the place justice. The walls were a sky blue, there was a California King bed on the wall to the left, straight ahead was a balcony that overlooked the white sand beaches, and clear, blue water. The bathroom had a large shower with clear glass and a claw foot tub. The overall room wasn't large, but what it lacked in size, it made up for in beauty. Besides they didn't plan on spending a lot of time in the room, and what time they did spend would be on that bed, in the shower and tub, and possibly against a wall or two.

They had decided that the first day would mostly be spent laying out on the beach, and playing in the water. Olivia put on her red bikini, it had silver bedazzled hearts on the cups of her top and on her butt. When she came out of the bathroom, Elliot's jaw dropped to the floor. He had never seen this swim suit before, so she must have bought it the day before they left. Seeing her in that bikini left his swim trunks feeling suddenly tighter.

Olivia saw the reaction that he was having seeing her, and smiled a little. The bikini was having the exact reaction she wanted it to have.

"See something you like?" Olivia teased.

"Oh I see something I like very much." Elliot smiled.

He walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, and started kissing her neck. She moaned, and then pulled away.

"Nuh uh, none of that. I want to go to the beach, and if you keep doing that, we won't make it out of the room." She gave him a knowing look.

Elliot groaned in frustration.

"Fine, have it your way you evil temptress. But as soon as we finish at the beach, I am having my way with you."

"I was hoping you would say that." Olivia winked at walked out of the door.

The following days had been fun for both of them. They went snorkeling and scuba diving, spent a lot of time on the beach. Elliot had wanted to go to the Pirate Museum though. It was cheesier than it was informative, but they had both enjoyed it.

They had tried new and not always great cuisine. They had enjoyed most of the dishes that they ate, but a few were too adventurous.

They were on the last full day of their vacation, and they were finally getting to swim with the dolphins. Olivia had been full of excitement since she had woken up that morning. This is what she had wanted to do more than anything the whole trip. Their appointment was at 2 o'clock and they would be out there for roughly an hour and a half.

They had been waking up later than they normally would back home. On this particular morning they woke up about 9 a.m. They had enjoyed breakfast in bed, then they went for a couple of rounds of sex. After they showered, together of course, they got ready to go swimming with the dolphins.

They reached the place they were supposed to wait for the instructor. Once the instructor, who had also been the scuba instructor, took them out to a spot where the dolphins would come to them. It was a 20 minute ride from the shore.

"Now the dolphins will come up to you and nudge you with their nose. Don't be afraid, this is their attempt to bond with you. Soon they will offer their fin to you. Grab it and hold on. I will be right here in case of anything happening, but you should be fine." The instructor told them.

Olivia and Elliot entered the water, and it wasn't long before a pod of dolphins came up to them. They were quickly interacting. It wasn't long before the dolphins were taking them under. When Olivia went under the first time, it was like something in her woke up. There was something therapeutic about being able to swim with these creatures and putting trust into them.

When Olivia had to come up for air, she let go of the dolphin and came up. The dolphin, noticing she had let go, came back to her.

Elliot didn't find the same therapeutic qualities in this as Olivia did, but he was having fun. He thought that it was neat that the dolphins came back when one of them let go. His favorite part of the experience though, was watching Olivia face light up. If he had a camera, he would take a picture so he could make sure he never forgot it.

The time came for them to leave, and Olivia was a little disappointed, she had thoroughly enjoyed the chance to experience it.

"We have to get back to the room and get cleaned when we get to shore. I made reservations for a special dinner tonight, since it's our last night." Elliot informed Liv on the boat ride back. He seemed a bit nervous.

This peaked Olivia's curiosity. She didn't really have anything to wear for a special dinner, and especially not for a place that required reservations.

They got back to the hotel, and entered the room.

"I'm going to take a shower first. I shouldn't take long." Elliot told Olivia.

"Why don't I just jump in the shower with you, save water?" Olivia suggested sexily.

"Normally I would take you up on that offer, but we both know it would take twice as long. We need to be on time for this." With that Elliot got up and walked to the bathroom.

Olivia was a little hurt by the rejection. Something had been off about his behavior all day, and it was making Olivia nervous. She thought that everything was going well between them. He wasn't going to break up with her on the last day of vacation, was he? He had told her that she was the only one he wanted, and that he never wanted to let her go. Olivia shook those thoughts out of her head when Elliot came out of the bathroom. He was clad in only a towel wrapped around his waist.

"All yours honey." He said giving her a quick kiss. She walked into the bathroom to shower.

While she was in the bathroom Elliot was trying to get everything done before she finished. He grabbed the garment bag out if his suitcase, laid it on the bed, wrote a note, and put on his suit. He needed to get out of the room, and to do final check that everything was perfect.

Elliot heard the shower turn off, and he quickly escaped the room.

Olivia walked out of the bathroom, expecting to see Elliot, and got quite concerned when he was nowhere to be seen. Olivia saw the garment bag lying on the bed and a note next to it.

_Liv,_

_Put on the dress in this bag, do your make up the way I like it, and meet me on the beach at 5 o' clock._

_I love you,_

_El_

Olivia looked at the clock, it was already 4:15. She opened the bag and was absolutely in love with the dress. It was a white flowy, went down to just above her ankle. There weren't straps, but chains that hung behind her. All the chains were connect to one chain that went over her neck, and it had a yellow stone to weigh it down. The top portion was modest yet sexy. There was virtually no back to the dress. She had also been left white flip flop with small jewels all over the straps.

She curled her hair and the ends, to give it a wave. She did her make-up the way Elliot liked, which was eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss.

By the time she had finished it was five minutes until she was supposed to meet him, so Liv started heading down to the beach.


	16. The Proposal

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, and I also own nothing from The Notebook. I just love that part!**

**AN: There is smut!**

Olivia walked out of the room and down the stairs to the beach; unaware of what Elliot had waiting for her. Once she stepped outside of the building there was a trail of rose petals leading her path. She followed the rose petals to the sand and was surprised by what she was seeing.

Elliot was standing on the beach with in a suit. Next to him was a table with for two with lid covered dishes and candles lit. It was far away enough from the water to where the tide wouldn't reach, but not close enough for them to not be interrupted by other guests.

Elliot walked over to her, holding his hand out for her to take. She took it, and he walked them over to the table. Being the gentleman that he was, he pulled out her chair for her to sit. Once she was sat, he pushed it in, and lifted the covers off of their meals. He then walked around to his chair and sat. There was a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket on the edge of the table. He opened it a poured glasses for the both of them.

"Elliot this is so lovely, why would you go to all of the trouble?" Olivia questioned.

"We've been together for a year, and this is our last night on this vacation. I figured that I should do something a little extra special." He explained trying not to give anything away.

They continued eating dinner, and making small talk about what they had enjoyed about the vacation.

The sun was just beginning to set over the water, and Elliot thought that this was the perfect time to do it.

Elliot got up and walked over to her. Olivia looked a little confused, but stood up when he got to her. Elliot took her hands in his and began what he wanted to say.

"Olivia, Liv. I love you, more than words could ever describe, but I'm going to try. You know me better than anyone else, you can tell how I'm feeling just by looking into my eyes. We can communicate without ever actually using words. We know each other better than we know ourselves. We know how to get under each other's skin, but we also know how to love each other like no one else can. You tell me when I'm being an arrogant son of a bitch, and I tell you when you're being a pain in the ass. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be really hard, and were going to have to work at this every day. I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day."

Elliot pulled the box out of his pocket and go down on one knee. When Olivia realized he was doing, she gasped.

"Olivia Serena Benson, will you marry me?"

Olivia couldn't speak, so she just nodded her head. A moment later she was finally capable of speaking.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

He slid the ring on her finger and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

Elliot and Olivia decided to watch the sun finish setting on the beach, before going up to their room to celebrate their engagement and their final night on vacation.

The couple walked back into the room hand in hand, enjoying being with each other. They entered the room, and Elliot pulled her in for another passionate kiss. She pushed his jacket off and loosened his tie. She wasn't in a big hurry to get naked. She wanted to take her time with him and savor this moment. She unbuttoned his shirt, taking the time to kiss his chest and abs.

Since his top half was completely undressed, he took the opportunity to take the dress off of her. Once she was only in her panties, he took a moment to marvel in how she looked and how lucky he was to be the guy that she loved. He pulled her back in to kiss her, and while they were kissing she unbuttoned his pants. She pushed them down and he kissed his growing erection through his boxer briefs.

When she did this, Elliot moaned. He laid her on the bed, and kissed her. He sucked on her neck for a moment, and then travelled to her breasts. He licked and sucked her right nipple, while he kneaded her left breast. He then switched and lavished Olivia's left breast with the same attention he had just given her right.

Olivia was getting extremely aroused, and as much as she wanted this moment to last all night, she needed him inside of her. She wrapped her legs around her back, and started pushing his boxer briefs off with her feet.

Elliot understood what she was trying to do, so he finished removing his underwear, and then took off her panties. He was more than ready, and he slid a finger into her. She was definitely ready as well. He knew what she wanted so he slid into her slowly. Both of them moaned as he slid into her. He moved slowly, but with purpose.

There was nothing but love and passion between them at this moment. Elliot clasped hands with her and held them above her head. Feeling his engagement ring on her hand made him emotional, and he had tears in his eyes.

Olivia saw this, but when she was reading his eyes, all she saw was love and admiration in them. This made her tear up. Elliot leaned down and kissed her and started moving faster. Soon they were both at the brink of climax.

Elliot reached between them and rubbed her clit with his thumb, bringing her over the edge. Feeling her cum around him made Elliot cum inside Olivia.

He rolled over pulling Olivia with him while he was still inside of her.

"Olivia, I don't know what I did for you to be with me, but I don't have the words to explain how much I love you and the fact that you agreed to be my wife." Elliot teared up again.

"You loved me, wholeheartedly and without condition." Olivia told him, and she kissed him again.

They didn't get much sleep that night, and slept on the plane ride back to New York.

**AN 2: I know that canonically that Olivia's middle name is Margaret... BUT I don't think that is goes well with Olivia, and the fact that it's 2.0 makes it even more ick.**


End file.
